Battle Royale
by Tassadar359
Summary: Harry Potter did not get back together with Ginny as expected after the war so she enters a competition with seven other girls to win his affection. She goes to Hermione for help to get back with Harry, but is Hermione really on her side?
1. Let the Games Begin!

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 1: Let the Games Begin!**

September 1st came and went just like it did every year at Hogwarts. However, this year was different in several ways. The main difference was that Voldemort had been defeated by Harry Potter. The other main difference was that the first year class at Hogwarts was larger than it had been previously. Yes, Hogwarts opened itself again to the students but because many students had not attended school the previous year, the Ministry decided that all of the students should go back to school and repeat a year. For that reason, the first year class had more students than any other year.

The summer prior to the school year had also been very eventful. Repairs had been made to the school following the Battle of Hogwarts, the dead had been buried, the Death Eaters who were still alive after the battle were captured and locked away, and finally Kingsley Shacklebolt had been elected to the position of Minister of Magic.

For their parts in defeating Voldemort, Harry and Ron had been offered positions at the Auror office by Kingsley. They accepted readily but were given the special privilege of going through their basic training at Hogwarts so that they could be close to Hermione. Of the three, Hermione was the only one who had decided to go back to school to complete her education. Harry and Ron shook their heads when they heard of her decision but they knew that Hermione loved learning and would not be happy if she did not go back to school. Not surprisingly though Hermione had also been made Head Girl.

Ron and Hermione had been dating since the end of the Battle of Hogwarts but, contrary to what everyone was expecting, Harry had yet to ask Ginny to be his girlfriend again. By not entering into a relationship, Harry had made himself the most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world and, much to his chagrin; he was receiving proposals of every kind from a good number of the available witches.

It was for that reason that eight girls were secretly gathered in the Room of Requirement with one mission: to take Harry Potter off the bachelor market. These girls, unlike the rest of the female population, had not sent the hero of the wizarding world a proposal of any kind because they had already observed Harry's negative reaction to the ones he was already receiving. This was where Ginny Weasley found herself after dinner one Saturday evening.

There were two girls from every house at Hogwarts present at the meeting. To Ginny's left sat Lavender Brown, the other from Gryffindor. Lavender had recovered from her injuries inflicted by Fenrir at the Battle of Hogwarts and returned to finish her schooling. Personality-wise, she had not changed much. She still enjoyed to gossip with her friend Parvati but was not as much of an attention seeker as she was previously.

Representing Hufflepuff were Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Neither of the two girls had changed very much physically but Ginny did not know much else about them. The same went for Padma Patil from Ravenclaw other than the fact that she had went with Ron to the Yule Ball in her third year.

The other Ravenclaw girl turned out to be Luna Lovegood. Luna was still good friends with Ginny and she came to visit the Burrow from time to time during the summer. Luna still had the same dreamy look on her face and Ginny was pleasantly surprised that the time in Malfoy's dungeon last year did not dampen her spirits even a little. Finally, there were Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis from Slytherin who were sitting across the table from Ginny and Lavender. From what Ginny remembered, these two girls were almost always seen together. Neither of the girls' families had sided with Voldemort during the war, choosing instead to remain neutral. In hindsight, that strategy was beneficial because it ensured the survival of their families no matter which side won the war.

While Ginny did not know anything about Tracey, she had heard about Daphne from other students. In her own right, Daphne was a very attractive girl with a pretty face and dark hair flowing in waves down her back. In fact, if it were not for her reputation as an ice queen and the fact that she was in Slytherin, Ginny suspected that many of the boys might have tried to ask her out. Despite her reputation, however, Daphne was able to get along with students in the other houses when necessary. Daphne was also the reason that the eight girls were gathered in the Room of Requirement.

After getting the attention of the other girls, Daphne wasted no time is getting to the point. "So we all know that Potter is still on the bachelor market," Daphne began. "I think it's time that one of us snags him for ourselves."

"Why are you suddenly so interested in Harry?" asked Luna. "Not after his fame are you?"

Daphne frowned at Luna. "I'm not so shallow as to be after his fame, or his money for that matter. In case you haven't noticed, he is quite fanciful. Besides, I would like to get to know him. Other than what Malfoy has said about him, Potter is still a mystery to me – a mystery I would love to try to crack."

"Then you can stop calling him Potter and start calling him by his first name," Ginny snapped.

"Calm down Weasley," said Tracey with a smirk. "We know you're still bitter that Pott—I mean Harry hasn't gotten back together with you."

"What does that have to do with anything!" Ginny said angrily, beginning to stand up while Lavender put out an arm to calm her down.

"Girls, there will be plenty of time to fight later," Daphne interjected. "Now as I said earlier, each of us wants to take Harry off the bachelor market but first I think we should all swear an oath that we are not to talk about this to anyone other than ourselves."

Around the table, each of the girls readily took the oath but when they got to Ginny, she hesitated for a moment before giving in.

"So now that we are all sworn to secrecy, I propose that we make a contest out of this," said Daphne. "The prize, of course, is Harry. Perhaps with some luck, the winner will spend the rest of her life happily married to him."

Hearing that, Lavender perked up considerably. "So what are the rules?" she asked.

"The rules are simple," Daphne began to explain. "We are not to use love potions on Harry and we are not to use unforgiveables either."

"Aww, and I was hoping to slip him some of the stuff that Slughorn had sitting in his stash," Tracey said, catching the attention of all of the girls in the room, including Daphne's. Soon enough though, Tracey burst out laughing.

"That was great!" she said with a laugh. "I can't believe even you believed me Daph."

Daphne gave an annoyed look at her friend but continued on nonetheless. "So each of us can either attempt to ask Harry out or get him to ask one of us out. You will be eliminated from the contest if he rejects you or refuses to go on another date with you."

"So what happens if he rejects all of us?" asked Padma. "And why isn't my sister here?"

"Leave it to a Ravenclaw to point out the worst case scenario," said Daphne with a frown but that quickly changed into an evil smirk. "In that event, I'm all for jumping him at the end of the year and having our way with him. Agreed?"

Even Ginny had to laugh that that one.

"As for Parvati, I did invite her but I guess her experience with Harry at the Yule ball was enough to deter her." Daphne continued. "So, any other questions?"

"What if more than one of us gets to go on a date with him?"

Daphne thought about that for a moment. "I suppose that could happen. He could go on dates with more than one than one of us but not commit to having any of us as a girlfriend yet. How about we settle a tie with a duel at the end of the school year, winner take all. Now who's in?"

Ginny thought about that one for a moment. This contest would probably be a slam dunk for her. She was not on bad footing with Harry and she figured that with some help from Hermione, she could perhaps get back together with Harry and maybe obtain some help in eliminating the competition. In the off chance that one of the other girls got to date him too by the end of the year, Ginny figured that she had enough dueling experience to win.

"I'm in," Ginny said eventually. The other girls also followed Ginny's lead one by one.

"When do we start?"

"Tomorrow morning," Daphne replied with a grin. "But first, I need to explain one thing."

Ginny saw Daphne pull out eight pieces of rolled up parchment. She gave one to each participant and kept one for herself.

"I've just handed each of you a list of our names. This is how we'll keep track of the contest. The lists are charmed so that when one of us is eliminated, that person's name will be crossed out on the list and that person's list will combust. There is nothing else identifying the lists so no one should be able to figure out what the list is for," Daphne explained. "That's all I have. May the best girl win."

With that, each of the girls pocketed the parchment they had been given and returned to their respective dorms to begin their scheming.

* * *

The next morning Ginny woke up and immediately sought out Hermione. Ginny found that Hermione was already eating breakfast in the Great Hall while reading a book. Ron was sitting next to her one arm around her waist but Harry was nowhere to be seen.

Approaching the pair, Ginny asked where Harry was.

"I haven't seen him all morning," Ron replied. "Though we are supposed to meet up later for our auror training. I hear that your new Defence professor is also our trainer. But why do you ask?"

Ginny just shook her head. "No reason. Say Hermione, would you have time to help me with a project?"

Hermione looked up from her book and nodded. "Sure. Where do you want to meet?"

"Can we meet at the library after dinner?" Ginny asked.

Hermione agreed while Ron groaned. "Count me out then."

"No one said you were invited Ronald," Ginny said sarcastically.

"Thanks," Ron said flatly. "Nice to know that I am wanted."

Hermione merely grinned and kissed Ron on the cheek. "Don't worry. You can rest assured that you are wanted."

"See? Hermione understands," Ron said to Ginny. "Why can't you?"

Ginny merely huffed and started to eat her breakfast.

* * *

Later that evening, Ginny went to the library after dinner to meet with Hermione. The head girl had left dinner early "to catch up on some studying." Ginny suspected that "studying" meant a snogging session with her brother but that was irrelevant since Ginny knew that the prospect of studying would scare him away. Truth be told though, Ginny had no intention of studying at all either. After Ron left, Ginny would try to get Hermione to help her snag Harry.

When Ginny got to the library, it took less than five minutes to locate Hermione. Sure enough Ron was there with her but Hermione looked like she was about to hex Ron.

With a sigh, Ginny walked over to the couple. "What did you do now?" Ginny asked pointedly.

"Nothing!" Ron replied defensively, holding up both of his hands. "I was just trying to protect her from those Slytherins."

"Honestly Ron," Hermione said exasperatedly. "That _Slytherin_ was just trying to ask for some help with her essay for her N.E.W.T.s. All she wanted me to do was proofread it and give comments. She was not going to try anything. Besides, she doesn't hang around with Malfoy and his group."

"And I say that her essay could be jinxed. You can never trust those Slytherins after all," Ron said hotly.

Ginny stared at Hermione suspiciously. "Her? It wasn't Daphne Greengrass or Tracey Davis by any chance was it?"

"It was Daphne," Hermione replied before turning her attention back to Ron. "Anyway, nothing happened when she handed me her essay. You were here for that!"

"Nothing that you could see anyway," Ron said, his face beginning to turn red in anger.

Hermione glared at Ron and said with finality, "I am going to go study with Ginny. You go back to your room and give this a rest."

Ron said nothing and stalked off while Ginny took a seat next to Hermione. Ginny thought a bit. Daphne probably was trying to get close to Hermione so she probably used "needing help with an essay" as an excuse to talk to Hermione. Just to be on the safe side though, Ginny figured she should look at Daphne's essay just in case it had something about Harry.

"Say Hermione, I don't suppose I could look at Daphne's essay?" Ginny said finally. "I mean one could never get a head start on one's N.E.W.T.s right?"

Hermione gave her a questioning look but dug through her bag and handed Daphne's essay to Ginny. Ginny unrolled the parchment and skimmed through the first few lines.

Sure enough it did look like an essay - one on potions at that. Losing interest, Ginny rolled the parchment up again and handed back to Hermione.

"Done already? So what did you need help with?" Hermione asked, taking back the rolled up parchment and putting it in her bag.

"Actually," Ginny said thoughtfully, "I was wondering if we could go to your suite and talk in private?"

Hermione looked at Ginny with a raised eyebrow but did not ask any questions. "Fine. After that row with your brother, I don't think I could concentrate on my studying."

Ginny grinned and stood up as Hermione gathered her things.

"That's like your 1000th row with him isn't it?"

"Tell me about it…sometimes I wonder why we even bothered dating but I guess I should be flattered that he's concerned for my safety this time. At least this one was better than that pointless bickering that we usually get into."

"I guess…"

* * *

When the two girls arrived at Hermione's suite, Hermione placed silencing charms around the room.

"So what did you want to talk about? Is it about Harry?" Hermione asked, sitting down on the couch.

Ginny gave her a small smile. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well given that everyone was expecting you two to get back together again after the war, I figured that you might come to me sooner or later about this," Hermione stated.

"I know, mum was expecting Harry to ask me to be his girlfriend again," Ginny said. "She looked very disappointed when we went off to school and Harry still hadn't asked me out again."

"I think your mum just wants to have one big happy family, especially since Fred is gone," Hermione said sadly. "I mean your mum was ecstatic when we told her that Ron and I were dating."

A crestfallen look fell upon Ginny's face as well. "I miss him too. George hasn't been the same since but Angelina seemed to be visiting him at the shop during the summer. Maybe she'll cheer him up."

Hermione brightened up at that bit of information. "Really? I think she'll be good for George."

"So I thought that since Harry isn't making a move on me, I should make a move on him," Ginny said. "What do you think?"

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think that Harry will come around. Just be patient."

Ginny looked a little frustrated. "But what could he be waiting for? I mean you and Ron got together after the war. Sure Ron was also saddened by Fred's death but that didn't stop him from asking you out."

"Harry is just adjusting to normal life. I mean he had Voldemort to deal with his entire life. You can understand that can't you?"

"Of course I can," said Ginny. "I just wish he'd tell me that instead of leaving me hanging like this. Isn't there anything I could do?"

"I suppose you could try to see if you can help him with something," Hermione suggested thoughtfully. "While you're discussing the solution, you could go for a walk around the lake and enjoy each other's company. At least that's what we do sometimes when he comes to me for help. I mean a walk around the lake is a romantic thing to do isn't it?"

Ginny grinned to herself. If that's all it took then perhaps the competition would be easy to win after all, and to top it off, she would certainly feel better if things got back to normal with Harry. Thanking Hermione, Ginny left for her own dorm. She would definitely be keeping an eye out for a way she could help Harry.

* * *

A/N: I should have the next chapter up by tomorrow. In the meantime, any feedback would be appreciated.


	2. Round One: Daphne Greengrass vs Padma

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 2: Round One: Daphne Greengrass vs. Padma Patil**

In her seven years at Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass had a few accomplishments to her name. She had managed to not get caught up with the Death Eaters in the war, achieve one of the top 10 spots in her year, and remain single throughout her entire time at Hogwarts. She was very proud of all of these accomplishments.

Remaining single was easy enough. The boys in Slytherin were all idiots anyway. Blaise was decent looking but was way too full of himself. There was no such thing as loyalty in his book either. She knew he would sell out his family if it meant saving himself. Nott was too close to the death eaters because of his father and for that reason alone, Daphne steered clear of him. Besides, Nott was not the best looking boy out there. Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid for their own good, not to mention extremely ugly. Daphne was certainly not shedding any tears over Crabbe's death. And finally, there was Malfoy. Malfoy had tried hitting on her at the beginning of her first year. Daphne merely pulled out her wand and threatened to hex him. The coward went running up to his room. After that, she was glad that Pansy had gotten a hold of him. Daphne was not sure that she'd be able stop herself from killing him if he tried to hit on her again.

As for the boys in the other houses, none of them caught her interest. Except for Harry Potter. Maybe it was because he defeated the greatest threat to the wizarding world, the Dark Lord Voldemort. That was a task that had to require a great deal of intelligence and power. Both were traits that Daphne admired. Being in Slytherin prevented her from ever getting to know anyone in the other houses really well because no one really wanted anything to do with a Slytherin. Now that the war was over, perhaps she might have a chance to discover what kind of person Harry Potter really was.

Speaking of Harry Potter, Daphne knew that Hermione Granger was the only girl who could really get close to him. Even Ginny, despite the fact that she had dated Harry, was nowhere as close to him as Hermione. And Daphne also knew that if Hermione was in trouble, Harry would be at her side in an instant. That was why Daphne thought it was fortunate that Hermione was dating Ron Weasley. If Hermione's relationship with Weasley went south and she decided to go for Harry, the rest of the girls in the school would not likely have a chance. So her plan was to befriend Hermione Granger and maybe get an idea of what Harry liked. The first part of that plan was already put into action last week when she had asked Hermione for help with the potions essay. Daphne certainly did not have any problems with potions.

So why then should Daphne go through the trouble of making a contest of this at all she wanted to do was get to know Harry Potter with the possibility of dating him? Because Daphne enjoyed a good challenge. Other than Ginny and perhaps Loony, all of the other girls were in the same position as Daphne. Besides, if Harry did not get back with Ginny immediately after the war had ended, Daphne figured there was a good reason for that.

As she walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, she spotted Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger walking down one of the corridors. She knew that if she approached them then Weasley would tell her to bug off like he did a few nights ago when she gave Hermione her potions essay in the library. However, at that moment her target came into view.

Harry Potter joined up with his two friends and gave Hermione a hug. Daphne could see that Hermione was happy to see Harry and expressed as much by holding on to him as if she was afraid that she would never see him again. Oddly enough, no one had seen much of Harry since his basic training started but then again, Daphne knew first hand that the new defence professor was a demanding individual. Still, that did not explain why Ron was finding time to be with Hermione. Perhaps it would be a good time to find out, Daphne thought with a slight smile.

"Hermione!" Daphne called out, approaching the three.

The trio turned to face the newcomer. Hermione smiled as she recognized Daphne and waved to her. Harry looked positively confused while Ron, predictably, Ron started to move in front of Hermione.

"What do you want Greengrass?" Ron said with a sneer. "Here to start something?"

"Nothing of the sort Weasley," Daphne replied, glaring at him. "If anyone is going to start trouble, that would be you."

"Ron, that's enough," Hermione said sharply and moved to greet Daphne. "Good Morning Daphne."

"She's a Slytherin! You know she can't be trusted," Ron retorted.

"Then it's a good thing that you and Harry are here isn't it?" Hermione stated cuttingly.

Ron could not find anything good to say, his mouth just opened and closed. Daphne smirked at Weasley but decided that aggravating him further would ruin her plans.

"I was just wondering if you had the chance to take a look at my potions essay," Daphne said to Hermione and glanced briefly at Harry.

"Oh," Hermione said and dug through her bag. She eventually pulled out a rolled up parchment.

"Here you go," she said, handing the essay to Daphne. "Brilliant piece of work I must say. I didn't really have any comments on it."

Daphne did not know what to say to that so she merely settled for a thank you.

"Daphne Greengrass is it?" said a voice to the right of Hermione.

Daphne looked over at Harry and nodded. Inwardly though, she was thrilled. Her plan had paid off. Harry Potter had actually talked to her.

"You were never with Malfoy and his group were you?" Harry asked and Hermione gave Ron a meaningful look as if to say "I told you so."

"No, I wasn't," Daphne replied, keeping a straight face and betraying no emotion despite her happiness at being able to talk to Harry. "He was too full of himself and a bloody coward. I had heard about how he identified Hermione while you guys were held at Malfoy Manor. I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Ron said before either Harry or Hermione could stop him. "You weren't there. You weren't the one who was tortured. If anything, I think you want something here. I'm not sure what but I'm going to find out."

Daphne thought that Ron's lack of self control was a nuisance but ironically, he was partially right. She was indeed after something – that something being Harry Potter - but she was sincerely sorry that Hermione was tortured. Not because Daphne liked the girl, but because she respected her. Hermione was the only person that Daphne could ever recall sticking by Harry Potter throughout all seven years she had known him. Even when the entire school had turned against him, Hermione stayed loyal. Daphne could not say the same for Ron Weasley. Then there was the fact that Hermione was at the top of their year. There was something to be said about that, even if Hermione was an insufferable know-it-all. Still, Daphne figured this was a good opportunity to take a shot at Weasley and maybe earn some points from Harry and Hermione while she was at it.

"Despite what you may think Weasley," Daphne said, doing her best to choose her words carefully. "I am capable of respecting others. If you don't believe that your girlfriend deserves respect, even from those who you classify as enemies, then you shouldn't be dating her."

"I think that Hermione would join me in saying thank you for your respect if nothing else," Harry said, throwing a glance at Hermione. "I certainly wouldn't be standing here talking to you if it weren't for her."

Hermione blushed at Harry's compliment but agreed that she was grateful that there was at least one Slytherin who did not think of her as a trash.

Ron was shaking his head at his two friends and told them that they were both mental and should not trust Slytherins.

"How about we all go to the Great Hall and get some breakfast?" Harry suggested.

"That sounds good," Hermione agreed.

As they continued on the way to the Great Hall, Padma spotted the four students and began to walk over their way. Daphne supposed that Padma was surprised to see her walking alongside the Golden Trio. After all, Slytherins were not supposed to get along with Gryffindors – most certainly not Harry Potter and his two friends.

"Hermione!" Padma called, smiling as she walked toward them. "Just the person I was looking for."

The four of them paused while Padma caught up to them. The trio greeted Padma with a "good morning" when she joined them but Daphne kept silent.

"Say Hermione, are you doing anything after dinner?" Padma asked.

"Yes she –" Ron began to say but was cut off by Hermione.

"Actually, I was going to study in the library and get a head start on some of my assignments because I doubt that I'd have much time in between patrols and my other duties."

"I see. Would you mind some company?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't mind at all."

Padma's smile grew even wider. Daphne figured that Padma was trying to get on Hermione's good side too so that she could pave her way to a date with Harry. She definitely could not let Padma get an upper hand on that.

"In that case," Daphne said, smirking at Padma briefly. "Can I study with you too?"

Harry and Hermione gave her a bewildered look while Ron regarded her with suspicion.

"I don't see why not. It'd be nice to study with another person and we could read each other's essays and give see where we could improve," Hermione replied with enthusiasm.

Harry let out a small laugh. "Only Hermione could get that excited about studying with other people but I'm glad that she's happy."

Hermione grinned at Harry while Ron muttered that he was now sure that his friend had gone insane for wanting to associate with a Slytherin.

"If it makes you feel better Ron, you can join us," Hermione told Ron flatly.

"No thanks. That crazy professor works me hard enough as it is," said Ron. "No need to work myself to death if I don't have to."

"Ron, if you're not willing to join Hermione when you know she is going to study with a Slytherin then quit telling who she can be around," Harry admonished his friend. "But since he's not going to study with you Hermione, I will."

"Really!" All three girls cried at the same time, eliciting a look of shock from Harry.

Ron let out a sigh of defeat. "Your loss mate, have fun studying."

* * *

Later that evening, Daphne arrived at the library early hoping that Harry or Hermione would be there. Unfortunately, she only saw Padma there sitting at one of the tables.

Padma glared at her as she approached the table – a glare which Daphne returned with equal intensity.

"Back off Greengrass, I know what you're up to. I don't intend to let you win," Padma hissed.

"Win what?" said a voice from behind Daphne.

Both girls turned their heads in surprise to see Harry Potter behind them with Hermione trailing behind him.

"Nothing," Daphne replied, putting a smile on her face as she turned to the two incoming students. It was a good thing that they both could not say anything about the contest to anyone except for the other participants because the game would be ruined if the target found out that they all were competing for him, not to mention that they'd all have Hermione to deal with and she could easily outclass most, if not all of them.

"We had a bet," Padma added with a small smile. "I was just telling her that she bet on the losing side."

Daphne had to give Padma credit. It was an innocent enough explanation since the students at Hogwarts entered into wagers frequently but it also skirted the rule that they could not talk about the contest to non-participants.

"Anything we should know about?" asked Harry with a grin as he and Hermione sat at the table. "What's the wager?"

"The bet is over which house is going to win the house cup this year," Daphne supplied since Padma did not seem able to come up with an explanation. It would also ruin the entire competition if either Harry or Hermione found out about the contest. Even though the participants were not allowed to talk about it, if there were enough slipups like this, Harry or Hermione could piece together what was going on. That would be bad news for everyone.

"In that case, I bet Gryffindor is going to win," Harry said jokingly. "With Hermione, the other houses won't stand a chance."

Hermione turned a little red in embarrassment but told Harry that they should get started studying. And so the four of them pulled out their books and began to study.

After about two hours of studying, the four of them decided that they should take a break. Daphne thought that the study session was productive – for the purposes of the contest and for her education. Early on, Padma started asking Harry questions about spells and dueling for her defence class. Since Harry responded informatively, Daphne started her own string of questions. Harry appeared to be a little shocked that she was asking questions but still answered her questions kindly, much to Daphne's delight.

"So what is auror training like?" Hermione asked as they sat there resting.

Harry let out a sigh. "Professor Boneshard works us hard. The past few days, all we did was run laps around the Quidditch pitch. Ron was winded in the five minutes the first day. He was complaining all the way back to the castle. But today, we were working on accuracy. He set up targets at different ranges on the pitch and had us blow them up."

"I know about Ron," Hermione said with a small laugh. "But he chose to become an auror too so I guess he can't complain."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "But next week, he is going to have us try something difficult."

Daphne saw Hermione's face light up at that revelation.

"It's not a new spell is it?" Hermione asked with enthusiasm. "If it is, could you teach it to me?"

Harry shook his head. "No, it's not a new spell. He just wants us to work on our accuracy in any setting. So he is going to have us hit moving targets while flying on a broom. From my experience last summer, I think that's going to be hard."

Hermione nodded in understanding but Padma and Daphne were clueless.

"What happened last summer?" Padma asked.

Hermione gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Padma, that topic is off limits."

"Sorry Padma," Harry added with a sad smile. "I don't feel like talking about the war to anyone just yet."

"It's ok Harry," Daphne said. "We understand."

"Thanks."

"So the next Hogsmeade trip will be this Saturday," Hermione said, changing the subject. "Are you doing anything Harry? Why don't you join me and Ron?"

"I thought you were going on that date with Ron?" Harry replied.

Hermione's face fell and she slapped herself on the forehead. "Oh, I forgot about that. But I guess he shouldn't mind. You are his best friend after all."

"It's ok Hermione, go on your date," Harry said, trying to reassure his friend. "I'll be fine on my own."

"I can keep him company while you go on your date Hermione," Padma suggested and gave Daphne a kick under the table.

Daphne jumped when she felt the contact and received curious looks from Harry and Hermione. Daphne scowled and rubbed her leg. _Two can play at that game_, she thought to herself.

"As a date you mean Padma?" Daphne asked, smirking at the Ravenclaw girl. If Padma said yes and Harry turned her down, Padma would be eliminated from the contest.

Hermione looked at Padma with raised eyebrows. The Ravenclaw replied that she was not asking him on a date but she wanted to let Hermione enjoy her date with Ron while not worrying that Harry would feel lonely.

"Since Padma said it's not a date, I can help keep you company too if you'd like," Daphne added, much to the surprise of Harry.

Harry seemed to think about it for a moment and baffled everyone at the table by agreeing.

Hermione gave her friend a look of disapproval. "Are you sure? I mean I'm sure I could convince Ron to let you join us."

Harry put on a smile for his friend. "I'm definitely sure about this Hermione. Padma said it's not a date so it should be ok. Go enjoy your date with Ron. Besides, I don't want him to think that I'm trying to steal you away from him."

Hermione still did not seem reassured but the other two girls sitting at the table were delighted. They had just managed to get Harry Potter for themselves.

Harry let out a yawn. "I think I'm going to call it a night. Are you coming Hermione?"

Daphne watched Hermione start packing her materials. The girl did not look very happy but Daphne supposed that was because she was too worried about Harry on Saturday.

"Don't worry Hermione, I'll be fine," Harry said, also noticing Hermione's disappointed look. "Besides, if anything happens to me, I'm sure that you'll give these two a good hexing right?"

Hermione grinned at her friend and the two of them walked out the door of the library.

"This isn't over yet," Padma hissed at Daphne.

"We'll just have to wait until Saturday won't we then?" Daphne shot back.

* * *

When Saturday rolled around, Daphne woke up early to get ready for their trip to Hogsmeade. She made sure to put on something nicer than normal but nothing that would raise Harry's suspicions. She could not give up the progress that she had made.

As she walked to the common room, she encountered her friend Tracey Davis.

"You don't seem like yourself today Daph, something going on?" Tracey asked, studying her intently.

Daphne grinned. "That's because I am going to Hogsmeade with Harry Potter."

"You lie," Tracey said accusingly. "I haven't seen you talk with Potter since the beginning of school. Though you seem to be obsessed with Granger….and you did give her your potions essay."

Daphne could see that Tracey was quickly putting the pieces together because the next thing that Tracey did was curse.

"That's how you did it," Tracey said with a slight chuckle. "You used Granger to get to Potter. Very clever. Well good luck with that. It'd be a shame if you got yourself eliminated. Oh by the way, I hear that Malfoy isn't dating Parkinson anymore and I think he's got his eyes on your younger sister. He's going with her to Hogsmeade today in fact."

"WHAT!" Daphne screamed. "Why that bloody git, I'll kill him if he does anything to Astoria."

"Just something for you to think about while you're out with Potter," Tracey said, laughing as she walked away. "Have fun!"

Daphne was furious. She didn't know who she wanted to curse more at this point, Tracey or Malfoy. Tracey was an opponent now because of the contest so she didn't know if her "friend" was making that up to throw her off. But if Malfoy was indeed trying to date Astoria, then Daphne would make sure he had something coming to him.

* * *

Later that morning, Daphne found herself keeping an eye out for her younger sister. There was nothing she valued more in the world than Astoria. Daphne's parents were often away on business and so the two Greengrass sisters spent a lot of time keeping each other company when they were home.

Daphne did not spot her sister anywhere in the line of carriages but she did see Hermione, Ron and Harry further up in the line. Harry said goodbye to his friends, gave Hermione a hug, and waited until they got into the carriage. Then he looked around until his eyes came upon Daphne. With a small smile, he began to walk over to her.

"Good morning," he said when he got to her. "Have you seen Padma?"

"I haven't seen her yet," Daphne replied distractedly.

"Harry!"

The two looked to see Padma running towards them.

"Shall we get going?" Padma asked when she caught up.

Harry and Daphne agreed and they got into a carriage together, but not before Daphne did one last sweep to see if her sister was around.

* * *

When the carriages arrived at Hogsmeade, the three of them disembarked and started discussing where they should go first.

"I think we should go to Honeydukes," Daphne suggested. "There's always something good there."

The other two agreed and so they went shopping at Honeydukes. After tasting some of the samples and buying some sweets, they decided to walk to the Three Broomsticks to grab a bite to eat. However, on the way to the Three Broomsticks, Daphne stopped in her tracks when she looked through the window at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop to see Malfoy and her younger sister Astoria sitting at one of the tables.

Harry and Padma also paused to see why she had stopped walking only to see that Daphne looked positively furious.

"Is something wrong Daphne?" Harry asked her, a bit concerned.

"Yes," Daphne fumed and pointed through the window. "That is what's wrong."

"I don't see what's wrong," Padma said, looking where Daphne was pointing. "I only see Malfoy and some girl."

"That girl," Daphne spat. "Is my younger sister Astoria. What is she doing with Malfoy? I'm going to set that ferret straight. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Harry offered. "I understand if you wish to make sure that your younger sister is all right."

"I think Daphne can handle this herself," Padma said, pulling a bit on Harry's robe to get him to go with her. "She said she would catch up with us later. Let's go enjoy ourselves at the Three Broomsticks."

But Harry did not budge. In fact, he watched with amusement as Daphne ran in to the tea shop, grabbed her younger sister by the arm and dragged her out of the shop with Malfoy following at their heels.

"What's going on Daphne?" Astoria protested when they were outside. "I was enjoying my date!"

"Did he feed you any potions?" Daphne asked her harshly. "Why are you with Malfoy?"

"I didn't feed her any potions Greengrass," Draco drawled. "Why's it your concern if your sister wants to come with me on a date?"

Daphne sneered at him and and drew her wand. "My sister is always my number one priority. Something which you wouldn't understand Malfoy since you only care for yourself."

"Your sister chose me," Draco retorted, drawing his own wand. "She agreed to go on this date so I don't see why you need to ruin it. Unless you're jealous that you can't get a date yourself?"

"Hah, that's rich," Daphne scoffed and leveled her wand at Malfoy's face. "Now sit still Malfoy, I'm going to teach you what it's like if you harm Astoria."

It was at that point that Harry chose to intervene before this incident could escalate any further. "That's enough Daphne. I think there's an easier solution to this problem that won't involve having to curse him. It will also show Astoria if Malfoy is sincere or not - that is if you trust me."

Daphne did not take her eyes off of Malfoy but lowered her wand slowly. Harry then walked up to Malfoy and told Daphne to join them. When she did, Harry pulled out his wand and asked Malfoy if he was willing to make an unbreakable vow.

Daphne was filled with a sense of admiration for Harry. Here he was trying to protect Astoria even though he did not even know her. Looking Malfoy in the eyes, Daphne looked for any doubt that Malfoy was not serious about dating Astoria. That alone would give her an excuse to hex him.

After a few moments, Draco shook his head. "You don't have to go that far Potter. I swear that I did not give Astoria any potions and that I will let her decide whether she wants to be in a relationship with me."

"Better keep that promise Malfoy," Harry warned. "Otherwise, I'm sure Daphne will be paying you a visit. And after allowing Hermione to be tortured, I just might join her to make sure that there isn't a piece of you left for anyone to identify."

Malfoy nodded solemnly and took Astoria by the hand. The pair walked back into the tea shop to resume their date and Harry turned to Daphne and Padma with a smile. "I've been wanting to let Malfoy know where I stood for a while. I mean he was part of the reason that Hermione was tortured."

"Thank you," Daphne said quietly. "I appreciate you stepping in to protect my sister."

As the trio started to resume their trip to the Three Broomsticks, Daphne heard Hermione calling Harry from the doorway of the tea shop. Daphne heard Padma let out a sigh of frustration at the new interruption.

"What happened Harry?" Hermione said, walking up to them with Ron closely behind her. "I saw you talking to Malfoy. Is everything all right?"

Harry nodded and filled her in on what transpired.

"See Hermione, he's just fine like I said," Ron said. "Can we get back to our date now?"

Ignoring Ron, Hermione pointed out that Harry did not even know how do an unbreakable vow. Daphne could only look in surprise at Harry at that revelation while Padma was looking rather impatient.

Harry only grinned sheepishly at Hermione and rubbed the back of his head. "I know, I was bluffing. I thought that Malfoy would be too intimidated by me to call my bluff."

Ron and Hermione began to laugh and Daphne joined them.

"You bluffed Malfoy?" Ron laughed. "Wicked!"

"So where are you going?" Hermione asked them when she stopped laughing.

"We were going to the Three Broomsticks until we were interrupted," Padma said cuttingly.

Hermione and Daphne threw irritated looks at Padma but Hermione continued to talk to Harry. "Did you want to join us in the tea shop Harry? Ron won't mind I think and you can bring Daphne and Padma."

"Wait a minute," Ron said once he realized they were going to have company. "I do mind Hermione. I really wanted this day to be just us."

"I mind as well," Padma added. "We were well on our way to the Three Broomsticks to get something to eat."

Harry shook his head at Hermione. "Go back to your date with Ron, Hermione. I know he only wants this day to be special. Besides, my last time at the tea shop wasn't the best."

Like in the library, Daphne saw disappointment on Hermione's face but she said nothing. Ron and Hermione walked back into the tea shop, leaving the three to continue on to the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

When the three of them arrived at the Three Broomsticks, they saw the place was crowded. However, they managed to find a place in a secluded corner. After ordering something to eat and three butterbeers, Harry began to engage Daphne in a conversation about her younger sister and why Malfoy was not with Pansy anymore. In the middle of the conversation, Daphne heard Padma sigh in frustration.

"Can we talk about something else?" Padma snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm sure there are more interesting topics than who Malfoy is dating."

"For your information, we were talking about my younger sister," Daphne commented, trying to figure out how she could steer the conversation in her favor. It was already a good thing that the Ravenclaw girl was already aggravated. "And you could have come here earlier if you were so hungry."

"I wasn't going to leave without Harry."

On his part, Harry was baffled as to why the two girls were suddenly arguing.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you wanted to be alone with Harry," Daphne stated, glancing briefly at Harry to gauge his reaction. The boy still looked positively confused.

"Of course I wanted to be alone with Harry," Padma said hotly. "If you hadn't intervened in the library, I would have asked him on a date."

Bingo. Daphne saw the look of confusion disappear from Harry's face.

"Sorry Padma if you had originally meant for this to be a date," Harry said with an apologetic look. "But I'm afraid that I don't see us dating anytime in the future."

At those words, the right pocket of Padma's robe was set on fire. In the blink of an eye, Harry had his wand out and extinguished Padma's robes. He then glanced around briefly to see if there were any threats. Seeing none, he went over to scoop up any of the ashes that had fallen next to Padma to see if he could identify them.

Daphne grinned inwardly. Her charm worked. The parchment had combusted when Padma was eliminated and there was nothing left to identify.

Once the shock of having her robe set on fire wore off, Padma turned to Daphne and said accusingly, "I may have wanted this to be a date but I know you wanted the same thing."

Daphne put on the most innocent facial expression she could muster. "What do you mean? Unlike you, I had never intended this to be a date. I just wanted to keep Harry company while his friends were off on their date. Your reasons are different than mine."

"Hmm," Harry muttered, once again completely oblivious to the exchange between the two girls. "I can't identify any of the ashes."

Glaring one final time at Daphne, Padma stood up from the table and stalked out of the Three Broomsticks.

Needless to say that at the end of the day, Daphne went to sleep a very happy witch. She could rest easily that Astoria was taken care of, she was making progress with Harry Potter, and one opponent was out of the contest.

* * *

A/N: That's it for Chapter 2. I'm going to try to make lengthy chapters but that also means that I'm not going to be able to update as quickly as this. The next one will hopefully be out sometime next week. Once again any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.


	3. Round Two: Tracey Davis vs All

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 3: Round Two: Tracey Davis vs. All**

Tracey Davis was lying on her bed in the Slytherin dorm looking over her list of contenders and thinking to herself. She ran a finger over Padma's crossed out name. It had been a little over a month since the competition started and she had yet to make a move on Potter.

When Daphne first suggested the idea of the contest to her, Tracey thought her friend was mad. What chance did two Slytherins have against the Weasley girl? Everyone knew that she would end up with Potter. Why even bother to fight a losing battle? That was until Daphne actually managed to get close to Potter and he still did not get back together with Weasley. Perhaps she had a shot at it. But did she really care for Potter? No, she decided. Potter was not as interesting to her as he was to Daphne. Besides, dating Potter meant that she'd have a lot of attention directed at her. Tracey had spent so much time at Hogwarts keeping a low profile to avoid being drawn in with the aspiring Death Eaters that she could not see herself in the spotlight and liking it.

Still, Tracey enjoyed upsetting things. That was her sole reason for remaining in the contest at all. And what better way to wreck havoc on the competition than to make sure that it ended with everyone losing. But first, she would have to knock out the lead contender for Potter, that being the Weasley girl.

Weasley...she would be the hardest to knock out of the competition because she had dated Potter and, if her outburst at the meeting was any indication, Weasley wanted to get back with him. There was no other girl in the school who could give Weasley a run for her money if she wanted to date Potter, none except for Granger.

There was just one little problem at the moment - Granger was with Weasel. But that could be remedied, Tracey thought with an evil grin. Then if Granger could be convinced to go after Potter, even Weasley would not stand a chance.

* * *

Later that day, Tracey looked for an opportunity to talk to Granger by herself. She had to know what Granger thought of Potter. Otherwise, her plan would not work. Fortunately, that chance came in her potions class in the afternoon.

When class started, Slughorn told them to pair up with someone. Tracey had strategically placed herself near Granger when she arrived so that she would almost be certain to work with her. It was time to mix things up.

"Mind if I work with you today Hermione?" Tracey asked. Although she'd always known of Hermione by her last name, it would not do to be uncivil. At least until she got what she wanted.

Hermione looked surprised that a Slytherin would want to work with her but sat next to her anyway. The bushy-haired Head Girl took out her potions book and set it on the table while Tracey grabbed a cauldron from the shelf.

"All right everyone," Slughorn called out. "Today we are going to brew a confusing and befuddlement draught. The ingredients you will need are on the board. The instructions are in your book. You have until the end of the class to finish."

They opened their books to the proper page and Hermione went to retrieve the ingredients from the front of the class.

"So how are you feeling Hermione?" Tracey asked when Hermione returned with their ingredients.

Hermione gave her a curious look but answered anyway. "I am feeling fine, thank you."

"I mean, are you happy with everything?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, not bothering to look up from her book. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think that for someone at the top of our year, you're a complete moron," Tracey stated flatly.

Hermione's head shot up in surprise but the shock wore off quickly and Tracey found herself on the receiving end of one of Hermione's glares. "I think that if you wanted to insult me, you could do so without asking me to be your potions partner."

Tracey ignored Hermione's statement and went on. "I do envy you Hermione. I mean you have the perfect boyfriend in front of you that all the girls would be dying to have."

Hermione's facial expression softened a little. "I do think Ron is a good boyfriend and I'm lucky to have him."

Tracey had to laugh at Hermione's statement. "I don't mean Weasel. I think you could do better than him. I'm talking about Potter."

Hermione was speechless. "Harry? But he doesn't think of me that way. In fact, Ron told me that he only thought of me as a sister."

"From that statement, I take it you've considered dating him yourself?" Tracey asked with a smirk. "As for Potter thinking of you only as a sister, did you ask him yourself?"

Hermione scoffed. "I like Ron just fine, thank you."

"And the truth comes out," Tracey said sarcastically. "So because you couldn't get Potter, you settled for second best. Tell me Hermione, what do you see in Weasel?"

"I happen to think Ron is funny, loyal, and intelligent when he wants to be," Hermione insisted. "And we understand each other perfectly. Thank you."

Tracey leaned closer to Hermione, "So then tell me, why do you two argue a lot? That does not seem to me like understanding. Now Potter on the other hand…you two don't argue as much do you?"

Hermione gave Tracey a scrutinizing look. "Just what do you think you're trying to pull here? Why are you suddenly so interested in Harry?"

"Well, for one Potter hasn't gotten back with the Weasley girl. There has to be a reason for that right? You're smart, I'm sure you can figure why Potter is still single. As for why I'm so interested in Potter, what girl wouldn't be since he's still single?"

"Stop calling him Potter already," Hermione said forcefully.

Tracey smirked at Hermione. "I don't hear you defending your boyfriend when I call him Weasel. Perhaps you haven't given up on Potter."

Hermione became flustered. "For your information, it wouldn't be right for me to date Harry. He has Ginny and it's only a matter of time before they get back together. They just need to warm up to each other again."

Tracey lowered her voice to a whisper. "Well then, let me fill you in on a little secret Granger. I think that if you decided to go for Potter, dear _Weasley_ would not stand a chance. And if Potter had to date someone, I doubt that he'd mind dating you. He's right in front of you. Now all you have to do is reach out and grab him for yourself."

For the first time that anyone could remember, Hermione failed her potions assignment that day and Tracey left the potions classroom laughing all the way back to her dorm.

* * *

When she got back to the Slytherin common room, Tracey was intercepted by her friend Daphne.

"What did you tell Hermione?" Daphne demanded.

Tracey merely sat in a chair and stared up at her friend. "What are you talking about?"

"You," Daphne said, pointing a finger at her friend, "were Hermione's potions partner in class and I saw you talking to her. Hermione also _never_ fails any school assignment. So what did you tell her?"

"Oh I just filled in her in on the contest," Tracey said nonchalantly.

Daphne glared at her friend. "We took an oath, I know for a fact that you cannot talk about our little competition to anyone other than ourselves."

Tracey decided that she would play her friend a little. "True, but there are ways around it. I just happened to find one."

Apparently Daphne was unfazed by Tracey's statement. "Quit trying to have me on and just tell me what you told Hermione."

Tracey had to grin at that statement. Daphne knew her too well. "I told her to go for Potter."

"And?"

"She refused," Tracey said flatly. "She's far too stubborn and noble to dump Weasel but I think she can be convinced to with the proper motivation."

"You can't do that!" Daphne protested. "If Hermione goes for Harry, none of us will stand a chance."

"That is the point," Tracey replied with a smirk. "You can try to stop me if you want but in all honesty, I don't think you stand a chance against Weasley."

"So what do you suggest?" Daphne asked, folding her arms across her chest and frowning at her friend.

"I'll leave that to your judgment," Tracey answered vaguely as she stood up from the chair and continued up to her room.

* * *

The next day, Tracey went to the library to come up with a plan to break up Granger and Weasel. It would not do for her to plan in her dorm. Daphne would find her and interrogate her again, or intervene and ruin her fun. Her conversation with Granger yesterday was merely a teaser. What she was really after was information that she could use to carry out her plan to break them up.

Granger had described Weasel as funny, loyal, understanding, and intelligent. Tracey had to laugh at the last one. Weasel was a hothead and that meant that intelligence went out the door. Understanding? Hardly. One only had to look at their arguments for evidence of that. Loyal? Maybe. Tracey did not know enough to judge if Weasel was loyal to Granger or how far he'd go for her. But everyone had their price.

Tracey thought for a bit. Weasel was always playing second fiddle to Potter. Even after the war, Potter got a lot of marriage proposals but Weasel got nothing. So if she somehow got another girl to pay attention to Weasel other than Granger, perhaps Granger would break up with him out of anger. That idea brought a smile to her face. It was just a matter of coming up with a girl who had the slightest interest in Weasel and convince her to go for him.

* * *

An hour later, Tracey still could not think of any girl who had shown interest in Weasel other than Lavender Brown and Luna Lovegood. There was just one problem…both of them were in the same competition she was. That would not do.

Tracey sighed in frustration and buried her face in her hands. There had to be a better way to go about this than try to set Weasel up with some other girl. Then the idea hit her like a bludger to the face. If she could not break them up by setting Weasel up with another girl, maybe she could undermine their relationship by making Weasel think that Potter was after Granger. After all, Weasel was a hothead and he just might get jealous and do something stupid if he thought that Potter was encroaching on his territory. Feeling much better, Tracey went off to look for a chance to put her new plan into action.

* * *

Just before dinner that evening, Tracey hid herself in one of the corridors leading to the Great Hall and waited for the Golden Trio to show up. Dinner was one of the few times that Potter made himself visible – that is other than the trips to Hogsmeade. The rest of the time, it was just Weasel and Granger. No one seemed to know where Potter went or what he did from breakfast all the way through dinner. Maybe it was because he felt lonely with his two best friends dating each other.

That thought made Tracey feel a little sorry for Potter. She knew what it was like to be lonely. Her parents never paid much attention to her and, unlike Daphne, she did not have a sibling to play with. But she was at Hogwarts and she had found a good friend in Daphne, even if they were currently competing against each other.

At that moment, Neville, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lavender, and Ginny came into view. They were heading in her direction so Tracey drew her wand and waited for them to pass her hiding spot. When they passed, Tracey peeked out of her hiding spot and sent a tripping hex at Hermione. The idea was to send Granger tumbling into Potter. Hopefully the two would enjoy the position they were in and Weasel would get jealous.

Unfortunately for Tracey, Hannah Abbott chose that moment to walk into her line of fire and so it was she who was hit by the tripping hex. Hannah was immediately sent sprawling on top of Neville.

Cursing to herself, Tracey decided that she would have to try another time. She could see Neville apologizing profusely to Hannah while she was still on top of him. Ginny and Harry helped Hannah off of Neville who was beet red from embarrassment.

With a short "thank you" and a "you're very nice" to Harry, Hannah gathered her things and scurried off to the Great Hall. Neville on the other hand was looking wistfully after Hannah's retreating figure.

Tracey had to do a double-take at that one. Longbottom and Abbott? That would be interesting, she thought. Too bad that Abbott was also after Potter.

After the group went into the Great Hall for dinner, Tracey left her hiding spot and went to get some dinner for herself. Grabbing a seat next to Daphne, she started piling some food on her plate when she noticed that her friend was looking rather pensive.

"Something wrong?" Tracey asked. "You aren't eating."

Daphne turned and gave her friend a small smile. "Nothing, just thinking."

"About our competition?"

"No, about what comes after all this," Daphne replied, motioning around her with her hand. "What will you do after we graduate?"

Tracey had not thought of what comes after but one thing was for sure, she did not want to be alone. That much she expressed to her friend.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that one," Daphne told her. "I'm sure you'll find a good wizard to take care of you."

"Even if that wizard is Potter?" Tracey teased. "I think I could learn to like that."

"Harry is going to be mine," Daphne said, the possessiveness in her voice was evident. "Once I sink my claws into him, I'm not letting him go."

Both girls burst out laughing. Tracey knew that Daphne was seriously considering dating Potter and the progress she had made so far was impressive. If her friend won somehow, Tracey would be happy for her friend.

"You really like Potter, don't you?" Tracey asked.

For the first time that Tracey could recall, Daphne had a slight blush on her face. "I never thought I'd find myself this attracted to him but after he went out of his way to try to protect Astoria from Malfoy and after spending time with him…I don't know how to describe the feeling."

"Hey Daphne," Tracey said, changing the subject. "Where do you suppose Potter, I mean Harry, goes in between breakfast and dinner? Weasel shows himself during lunch and even later in the afternoon but no one knows where Harry is."

Daphne looked thoughtful but Tracey could see that her friend had gone into her scheming mode and she knew that whatever plan she had, it would probably be good.

"Well, I know that he has auror training in the morning since Ron goes with him," Daphne said. "But after lunch, Professor Boneshard is teaching Defence classes. I can't imagine that Harry would still be training at that time since Ron comes back for lunch."

"So how does that help us?"

"Harry mentioned that Professor Boneshard had them run laps around the Quidditch pitch," Daphne informed her. "That must be where they have their training sessions. So that's where we'll go once lunch begins. Harry won't suspect that anyone will be watching him at that time. We can do it tomorrow."

* * *

The next day, Daphne and Tracey skipped lunch and headed out to the Quidditch pitch instead. Other than dodging Professor Boneshard and Ron who were on the way in, they arrived without incident and hid themselves in the stands. For the two Slytherin students, it was the first time either of them had been there when no one else was around.

Tracey spotted Harry on the ground in the middle of the Quidditch pitch eating his lunch. An old house elf was also present laying out what appeared to be a plate of sandwiches on the ground. Then, with a bow, the house elf disappeared.

"I'm surprised he doesn't just go inside to eat lunch," Tracey heard Daphne comment. "I mean Ron and Hermione are in there."

"I think that's the point," Tracey said. "I think he doesn't want to intrude on his friends' intimacy."

"But I know for a fact that Hermione doesn't mind if Harry is there," Daphne replied. "In fact, at one of the trips to Hogsmeade, Hermione was fairly insistent that Harry be there even though she was going on a date with Ron."

That bit of information was very useful to Tracey. Hermione would rather be with Harry than Ron if she wanted him to be there even though she was going on a date. Maybe it wouldn't take much prodding for Hermione to go after Harry, Tracey thought.

"If I knew he was going to be eating lunch, I would have gotten something to eat before we came here."

Tracey burst out laughing at her friend. "So the great one miscalculates. Now we're going to die of hunger."

"Thanks…no need to be so overdramatic" Daphne deadpanned.

* * *

When Harry had finished his lunch, Tracey saw the old house elf appear again and remove all of the dishes before disappearing again. She saw Harry reach next to him for something which she presumed to be his wand before he stood up.

Suddenly, ten loud cracks were heard and Tracey saw ten red bolts leave Harry's wand in an arc in front of him. Visually tracking each of the bolts, Tracey noticed for the first time that he was not alone on the pitch.

In front of him were ten skeletal figures, each holding a sword and a tower shield. The bolts made contact with each target's shield, which promptly exploded into a multitude of splinters.

She saw the ten targets charge at Harry who rapidly fired ten more shots at each target. Tracey found herself being very impressed at the display for each of the shots was aimed at the chest and there were no misses. Like the shields, the figures exploded one after another and collapsed to the ground.

Tracey heard Daphne let out a small gasp next to her and she turned to see that her friend was pointing at something on the pitch.

Sure enough, there were more skeletal figures further down the pitch. This time, each had a bow and a quiver of arrows. The archers had their bows drawn back to shoot at Harry.

Shortly thereafter, the archers let loose their arrows. Turning her attention back to Harry, she saw that he had broken into a run, closing his distance on the new targets.

It was a good idea because at that range, the archers had to shoot high in order to hit him. Therefore, by the time the arrows got to his previous location, he would not be there.

Five more shots later, half of the archers were down and the remaining half had taken a second shot. This time, rather than dodge the arrows, Harry conjured a shield to deflect the arrows. The arrows hit the shield and fell harmlessly to the ground, after which the remaining archers found themselves on the receiving end of another wave of bolts coming from Harry's wand.

Tracey scanned the pitch for more targets but did not see any.

"Look, the skeletons are repairing themselves," Daphne said, focusing Tracey's attention back to where the skeletons had been previously. "I just hope that Harry doesn't get hurt."

"After that show, I don't think they'll be able to touch him," Tracey commented.

Once the skeletons got up again, each one picked up its weapon and a brand new shield laying around the edges of the pitch. This time she saw that the skeletons arrayed themselves in a tight formation and locked their shields together with their swords sticking out in between the small gaps. The shields were different in that they were round and had a silver outer coating which reflected the mid-day sunlight. Tracey had to squint because the glare was intense.

The formation advanced toward Harry who had fired off one test shot. Unlike previously, the bolt did not destroy the shield it hit. Instead, it was reflected back at Harry who put up a shield of his own to absorb the blow.

Seeing that his spells would not work as long as the shields were up, he tried running around the formation to the exposed flanks, firing a few more shots as he ran. However, the skeletons were able to rotate their formation to keep their shields facing Harry. When the back of the formation was facing the two Slytherin girls, Tracey noticed that a few skeletons at the back of the formation had their bows drawn back, ready to fire.

"Those archers behind the shields can't be good," Daphne said, drawing her own wand. "I think we should go down there and help him."

Tracey nodded and drew her own wand. The two girls ran as fast as they could down the stairs to the pitch.

Sure enough, the formation parted just enough for the archers to open fire on Harry. Harry dropped to the ground and returned fire just as the arrows sailed over his head. The spell took out one of the archers just before the formation closed again.

By that time, Tracey and Daphne were on the ground and they found themselves on the exposed left flank of the formation. Grinning at each other, the two girls also opened fire with reducto curses, hitting two of the skeletons in the front of the formation. The two skeletons exploded and the shields they had been holding fell to the ground.

Harry looked surprised at the appearance of the two girls but kept running just in time to avoid several more arrows that had been fired through the recently parted shields. The skeletons were apparently intelligent because once Tracey and Daphne took out two of them, the shield formation changed to adapt to the new attackers. However, this also meant that the formation had one weakness - one that Daphne quickly picked up on.

"Fire at their legs," she heard Daphne tell her. "The shields aren't covering their legs now."

Firing low, Tracey sent a reducto curse into the right leg of one of the skeletons facing her. The skeleton collapsed, leaving the formation open for a second reducto curse fired by Daphne. The skeleton behind its fallen comrade exploded.

"Five down, fifteen more to go," Daphne said with a grin. "This is pretty fun."

Tracey had to agree that this was fun but she realized that they would have to keep moving because the archers were now focusing on them.

Arrows were once again let loose and the two girls sprinted in opposite directions to avoid the incoming fire. Tracey noticed that Harry had not moved to try to join them. Instead, he was trying to move to the opposite side of the formation in order to separate the remaining opponents.

It was a tactic that seemed to work because now the archers had dropped their bows and picked up the shields of their fallen comrades. They moved to cover the gaps in the shield walls but not before Harry had dropped two more of them. However, they were now facing two shield walls advancing in opposite directions.

"We can't let them get close to us," Tracey told her friend. "Keep running that way. They can only keep the wall facing one direction. With any luck, one of us will be able to take down more of them."

After a few minutes of running, Tracey found herself out of breath. Physical activity was not something emphasized at Hogwarts and so many of the students, she realized, would probably lose against this formation within a short period of time.

Looking back at the formation, Tracey saw that it was now split into three groups. Three opponents were going towards Daphne, three were advancing at her, and the remaining seven were on Harry. The skeletons had now shifted so that they were walking single file. The first skeleton was crouched low with his shield covering him and the legs of his comrade behind him. The third skeleton in the two groups advancing on Daphne and Tracey had picked up a bow and started firing at them.

Frustrated at the turn of events, Tracey fired a shot at the group in front of her only to have it reflected back at her. She put up a shield to block the reflected spell and stared tiredly at the group that was coming toward her. She was already exhausted from the running and the skeletons were obviously not going to give up.

In her peripheral, Tracey saw three flashes of light. Looking in that direction, she saw Daphne's entire group of opponents go down. It was only then that Tracey realized what she should have done from the start. The three of them had spread the formation apart enough so that even though they would not be able to take out the group in front of them, they could still fire on the other two groups.

Daphne seemed to realize this as well because she fired three reducto curses which took out Tracey's group. Then the two of them concentrated their fire on Harry's group until there were no more opponents.

When the last opponent had gone down, the two girls walked over to Harry's location. He had sat himself down on the pitch in order to catch his breath.

"Thanks for your help," Harry said when they arrived. "I've never been able to beat this before - at least not without a broom."

Daphne grinned at the boy and surprised him by giving him a hug. "You're welcome. We were concerned that you might be in trouble but I'm glad that you're ok."

Harry looked a little uncomfortable at the physical affection but he quickly returned back to normal when Daphne introduced Tracey to Harry.

"We've had classes together," Harry said, giving Tracey a friendly smile. "You weren't part of Malfoy's group either."

"No, I wasn't," Tracey replied. "He was boring. All he ever talked about was how great he was. Never did like the ferret for that."

Harry let out a laugh. "It's refreshing to see that not all Slytherins are gits."

Daphne looked offended. "Well excuse me if not everyone can be as noble as you," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Next time I think you need help, I'll just remain in the sidelines and watch you get your sorry arse handed to you."

Harry threw up his arms in surrender as Tracey laughed at her friend's actions. "Sorry, I'm not used to Slytherins being civil toward me. Malfoy and all."

"Leave it to Malfoy to ruin my perfectly good image," Daphne said sarcastically.

"So Harry," Tracey began. "Why do you stay out here by yourself? I mean even Ron goes back to the castle for lunch and I don't see him out here."

Harry looked somber. "I can't get better if I don't practice. After the war, I told myself that I didn't want to see anyone else to get hurt. The best way I think I can do that is to keep improving. Professor Boneshard is a very good teacher."

"Where did you learn how to animate objects?" Daphne asked, motioning toward the destroyed skeletons.

"I didn't. That's Professor Boneshard's work," Harry explained. "They've been set up so that as long as I want to practice, they'll keep repairing themselves. That way he doesn't have to repair them himself when he's teaching class and I can stay out here as long as I want."

"He should talk to Professor Flitwick," Daphne commented. "That's gotta be very complicated."

Tracey's stomach let out a growl and the Slytherin girl blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, we haven't eaten lunch. Are you going to go at it again?"

Harry shook his head. "I think I've had enough for today. Thanks for your help again."

"Would you like to join us for lunch then?" Daphne asked with a hopeful expression on her face.

"I don't mind," Harry replied. "In fact, I'll have Kreacher bring some food for you."

"Who's Kreacher?" Tracey asked.

"He's my house elf. I inherited him from my godfather," Harry explained before summoning Kreacher.

The old house elf that Tracey had seen earlier appeared in front of them and Harry asked the two girls what they would like to eat. After taking their orders, the house elf disappeared.

He reappeared a short moment later with their food and the three of them enjoyed friendly conversation for the rest of the afternoon as they ate.

* * *

Around dinnertime, Harry thought that they should head back to the castle. "Hermione insisted that I join her for dinner everyday," Harry had explained.

That comment made Tracey think again that it would not take much to get Hermione to go for Harry.

When they arrived back at the main entrance, they ran into Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Harry's friends looked very surprised to see him in the company of the two Slytherin girls but he walked up to them as if it was not a problem.

Other than Hermione, Tracey could tell that the other three were less than pleased that Harry had been hanging out with them. Ginny and Luna probably because they wanted Harry for themselves, and Ron merely because they were Slytherins. Fingering the parchment with the list of contestants in her pocket, a crazy idea came to Tracey's mind. Hermione thought that Ginny would be the one to get Harry. For that reason, Hermione would not do anything because she did not want to betray Ginny. However, if Hermione thought that other girls had a shot at him too, just maybe Hermione would forget about Ginny make a move herself.

Taking a deep breath, Tracey turned to her friend. "Daphne, are you sure about going after Harry?"

Daphne gave her a questioning look.

"Are you certain that Harry is what you want?" Tracey repeated, a bit more forcefully.

Daphne looked longingly at Harry before replying, "Harry is the kind of guy that I would be happy with so yes, I'm sure."

"Then don't forget about me if you get him," Tracey said.

With that, she pulled her list from her pocket and dropped it on the floor behind her. Before Daphne realized what was going on, Tracey walked up to Harry while he was still talking, or rather arguing with his friends.

"I don't think you should be trusting those Slytherins," Ron was saying. "They'll be nothing but trouble for you."

"If you'd take the time to get to know them, they're not so bad," Harry said defensively.

"I have to agree with Ron," Ginny added. "You should be spending more time with us instead and not with those manipulative - ."

"Harry!" Tracey called as she approached the group.

Harry and his friends stopped talking and turned their attentions to her. This was it, Tracey thought.

"I just wanted to thank you for the lunch date," Tracey told him with a smile. "I don't suppose I could interest you in a second date on our next trip to Hogsmeade?"

The reaction of Harry and his friends was absolutely priceless because all of them could only stare at her with their mouths wide open.

Ginny was the first to regain her senses. "Date! Harry, you better explain yourself," Ginny ordered.

"No response?" Tracey said innocently. "Maybe this will help you."

Wrapping her arms around Harry's neck, Tracey kissed him. Hard.

Although Tracey knew that Harry was not responding to her kiss, he was not pushing her away either. That gave her the excuse to continue the kiss for as long as possible, or at least until she needed air.

When she finally let go of him, she was pleased that Harry looked dazed. His friends, on the other hand, did not look happy at all.

"So how about that date?" Tracey asked again with a smile.

"Sorry Tracey," Harry replied. "But I don't think I'll be able to take you up on that date."

"Aww," Tracey pouted. "I guess you didn't like that kiss."

"It's not that I didn't like it," Harry said, trying to pick his words carefully. "I mean what guy wouldn't like being kissed by a cute girl? It's just that I'm not interested. Sorry."

"It's ok, I understand," Tracey said. And she truly did. She knew that Harry was not interested in her but she hoped that her actions that evening would result in a favorable outcome for her friend. She had gone into the contest wanting to wreck havoc but now she felt that her friend deserved to be happy. Either way, she needed Hermione to go after Harry in order to keep Ginny occupied or eliminate the Weasley girl altogether. Daphne probably would not stand a chance either, but there was always the small possibility that while Hermione and Ginny were going after each other, Daphne would find a way to get the guy she wanted.

When Tracey turned around, she saw that her list was nothing but a pile of ashes at Daphne's feet. Although her friend would know that she had eliminated herself from the competition, she knew she would have to explain her actions to Daphne later. But that was something Tracey could live with.

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As usual, feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.


	4. Round Three: Ginny & Luna vs Hannah

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 4: Round Three: Ginny & Luna vs Hannah**

A couple weeks after Tracey Davis had eliminated herself from the contest, Luna Lovegood was wandering aimlessly through the hallways when she found Ginny pacing in an empty classroom.

"If you're going to keep pacing, I suppose I'm not needed," Luna commented from the doorway.

Ginny immediately stopped pacing and stalked over to where her friend was standing. She yanked her friend into the room and shut the door.

"We need a plan to eliminate the other contestants," Ginny said. "I think we should start with the easier ones, like Hannah."

"Have you forgotten that I'm also a contestant?" Luna asked. "And why Hannah?"

"Because I think Neville fancies her," Ginny said, ignoring Luna's first question. "I mean didn't you see the look he gave her after she fell on him that one day? I don't think it would be too hard to convince her to go after Neville."

"I think that is something that Lavender would be willing to help with," said Luna. "She has always seemed to enjoy that kind of work. And how do you plan to convince Hannah to go after Neville?"

Ginny sighed and shook her head. "I don't know yet…but that's why you're going to help me."

Luna gave her friend a small smile. "And let you get Harry while I'm preoccupied with Hannah? Nice try Ginny but it's not going to work."

A look of surprise came across Ginny's face. "That's not what I was trying to do," Ginny snapped.

Luna was glad that her oddities caused everyone to underestimate her, even her friends. Personally though, Luna could care less whether or not she helped Ginny eliminate the other contestants. When she got the invitation from Daphne to compete for Harry's affections, Luna had thought the idea was insane because it would be up to the guy to determine who he wanted to be with at the end of the day. It was for that reason that Luna never understood why other girls fought over guys. Still, someone had to keep an eye on her friend and make sure that she did not do something stupid – the same friend who was currently babbling on and on about what they could do to eliminate Hannah.

"Are you even listening to what I was saying?" Ginny said with a frustrated sigh.

"Yes," Luna replied. "You want to eliminate Hannah."

"I meant if you were listening to the details of my plan."

Luna gave her friend a clueless look. "Sorry, no. But I think it would be a good idea if we got Hermione in on this."

Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment before her eyes brightened up and she exclaimed. "I know! We'll get Hermione in on this. She'll be able to come up with a plan even if she's not part of the contest. It'll be brilliant."

Luna shook her head. Was that not what she had just said? Ginny could be brilliant but there were times when Luna thought that Ginny could be irrational, particularly when emotions ran high. It must run in the family, Luna thought.

* * *

Later that evening, Luna and Ginny had managed to kidnap Hermione from a protesting Ron who appeared as if he wanted to start a snogging session with his girlfriend. But once Ginny mentioned girl talk and Harry, Ron backed away looking a little apprehensive.

"So what about Harry?" Hermione asked the pair who had plopped her down onto a seat in the empty classroom they had just entered.

"Let's say, hypothetically," Ginny began, "that Hannah had a crush on Harry. What would you do?"

Hermione gave her friend a quizzical look. "I thought that you were going for Harry yourself, why would you want to set Hannah up with him?"

"I think she forgot to mention that Neville had a crush on Hannah as well," Luna added helpfully.

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "I was wondering if you'd help me set them up."

Hermione let out a tired sigh. "I think that playing matchmaker is something you should be asking Lavender and Parvati about, not me."

"Yes but Lavender knows nothing about Neville whereas you do," Ginny replied.

Hermione's eyes darted between the two girls standing in front of her. "Something tells me that you're not going to let me go until I agree to this."

"That sounds about right," Ginny agreed.

"All right," Hermione said, throwing her hands up in frustration. "I'll help you. What did you have in mind?"

"Actually we were going to ask you about that," Luna stated, much to Ginny's annoyance.

"You mean you don't even have a plan?" Hermione asked with a baffled expression on her face.

"Not exactly," Ginny replied. "I thought that we could try setting Hannah up on a date with Harry and then bring Neville along."

"And how are you going to do that?" Hermione asked.

"I'll be the one to bring Neville along," Ginny said. "I'll then offer to help him get Hannah if he'll make sure I end up with Harry at the end of the evening."

"So how do I fit into this plan?"Hermione asked.

"We'll need you to convince Harry to go on a date with Hannah," Ginny stated. "You're the only one he'll listen to."

"And me?" Luna asked.

"You'll be there to sabotage Harry's date with Hannah and with some luck, she'll see that Neville is the better match for her," Ginny replied.

It did not take long for Hermione to protest Ginny's plan. "I'm not going to manipulate Harry so that he goes on a date with Hannah! She'll end up with her heartbroken at the end of the night. Why should I give her a false sense of hope?"

"Because at the end of the day, she'll be better off with Neville. She'll be happy and Neville will be happy. Harry will also be happy because he'll be with me. You want Harry to be happy don't you?" Ginny said.

Luna thought that Hermione looked conflicted. She believed that it was because Ginny had invoked the one thing that would make Hermione do anything: Harry's happiness. There were times when she thought that Hermione would sell her soul to the devil if it meant that Harry was protected or if it meant that Harry would be happy.

"All right, I'll do it." Hermione said finally.

Ginny had a large grin on her face. "Great! How about we use the next Hogsmeade outing to put our plan into motion? I mean you're going on another date with my brother aren't you?"

"That sounds just fine," Hermione said dryly.

* * *

A week or so later, Luna had heard from Ginny that Harry had invited Hannah to go with him to Hogsmeade along with Neville and Ginny. On some level, Luna was surprised because she had not expected Harry to agree to go on a date with Hannah. However, Hermione was involved and that was all the explanation one needed.

At the moment Luna was on her way to meet up with Ginny in one of the empty classrooms lining the hall in order to discuss their plan to eliminate Hannah. As soon as she got in, she saw that Ginny was sitting on top of one of the desks. Once Luna had locked the door to the classroom, Ginny did not waste any time in getting down to business.

"So here is the plan," Ginny started. "Neville and I will meet Harry and Hannah at the Three Broomsticks. I'll order some tomato soup. When it arrives, you'll send the soup flying into Hannah."

"Why can't you do that yourself?" Luna asked with a tinge of annoyance. Even if Luna agreed to help Ginny, it did not give Ginny the right to treat her as a tool. However, Luna knew that when Ginny wanted something, she could be very stubborn.

"Because Harry will notice," Ginny replied. "He's much too observant now that he's going through that auror training of his. Plus it'll give Neville an excuse to comfort Hannah. She'll no doubt leave in tears because her date will have been ruined. I've already talked this over with him. With some luck, she'll warm up to him and she'll be eliminated from the contest in no time."

"So where am I supposed to be the entire time?"

"Just keep close to us," Ginny said. "If you want, you can even arrange for someone to come with you so that you don't get lonely."

"The things I do to help you…" Luna said, shaking her head.

"Suit yourself," Ginny said. "We're going to Hogsmeade this weekend so I hope that you're ready."

* * *

When Saturday arrived, Luna met Ginny and Neville at the front gate. Ginny explained to Luna that she and Neville were going to ride in the same carriage as Hannah and Harry but they would meet up with her later. Further down the row, she saw Hermione and Ron enter one of the carriages going to Hogsmeade. After Ginny and Neville had left her to meet with Hannah and Harry, Luna moved to enter the carriage immediately behind theirs.

"Hold the door please," Luna heard a voice cry out just as she was about to close the door to the carriage.

Just as Luna ducked her head out to see who it was, Daphne Greengrass attempted to step into the carriage and bumped her head against Luna's.

"Ouch," Daphne muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Sorry, I was hoping to join you in here since Tracey did not want to come along."

Luna merely shrugged her shoulders, motioned for Daphne to get in, and shut the door behind them. After settling into her seat, Luna pulled out a copy of the Quibbler and began to read it upside down.

"I don't see how you can read anything that way," Daphne commented across from her.

"It's all a matter of perspective," Luna replied vaguely. "Just like everything else in life, don't you think?"

"That is true," Daphne agreed. "But tell me, what perspective do you have of Harry's sudden date with Hannah?"

Luna had to admit that Daphne was making a good attempt to get information out of her even if it was a bit obvious. Unfortunately for Daphne though, Luna was not going to give her anything.

"I have the same perspective that you do," Luna replied.

Luna heard Daphne let out a small laugh. "You know that no two people see the same thing. Weasley is also your opponent in this little contest. Weren't you even curious enough to make your inquiries, or at the very least form your own theories?"

"So why did you start this contest? What do you have to gain from it?" Luna asked, ignoring Daphne's questions.

"Everything," Daphne replied. "Harry has to be the most powerful person in the Wizarding world at the moment but more importantly, in the time that I've spent with him he has also shown me that he cares deeply for his friends. If he cares so much for his friends, how much more care would he give to the girl lucky enough to date him? Is that not worth fighting for? But enough about my reasons, why did you agree to participate?"

That was not an answer that Luna had been expecting but for some reason, Luna felt like Daphne was telling the truth. "Nothing except that I hope to see two of my friends happier people at the end of it."

"I can imagine that one of those two would have to be Harry," Daphne said. "But who is the other? Weasley? Or is it Hermione?"

Luna almost dropped her paper at the mention of Hermione's name in that context. Hermione was dating Ron. Why would Daphne bring up Hermione?

"Why would you think it was Hermione?" Luna asked, putting down the Quibbler she was reading. "She is dating Ron and the two are very happy."

Daphne grinned at her, her eyes gleaming with delight. It was probably because she believed that she knew something that Luna did not.

"Well that would mean you are helping Weasley," Daphne said, the grin never leaving her face. "So what is the plan? Or better yet, let me see if I can figure it out."

"You're welcome to try," Luna said in reply. "Don't expect me to tell you if you're right though."

Daphne laughed. "All right, I think that because Neville and Weasley entered the same carriage as Harry and Hannah, the four of them have planned a double date. Somehow I expect Weasley to sabotage the date so that Neville ends up with Hannah and she ends up with Harry. Did I get that right?"

Daphne was not in Slytherin for nothing, Luna thought. Still, she would not give the Slytherin girl the satisfaction of being right so Luna told the girl to join her for lunch at the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

When the pair arrived at the Three Broomsticks, Luna suggested that they get a table close to where Hannah and Harry were. Daphne nudged Luna in the direction of a table a few feet down from where the two couples were sitting so that they could keep an eye on them.

The two girls had barely taken their seats when Luna noticed Hermione enter the Three Broomsticks with Ron in tow. Hermione's eyes swept around the pub until they settled on another table close to where Luna was sitting.

Hermione motioned toward the empty table and the couple moved to sit at the table.

"Now this will get interesting," Daphne commented.

"Why do you say that?" Luna asked.

Daphne motioned toward Ron and Hermione. "Because those two are here."

Luna shrugged her shoulders. "So what? They're on a date. Hermione is not going to do anything just because Harry is on a date with Hannah. I wouldn't expect much."

Daphne smirked at her. "I never said anything about Hermione doing anything."

Oops. Better try to get out of this, Luna thought. "Really? You mentioned Hermione in the carriage."

Daphne did not miss a beat. "I did but I thought Hermione was, to quote you, 'very happy' with Weasley. Doesn't look that way anymore. Might as well drop the act, your secret's out."

Luna decided not to respond but instead glanced over at Harry's table again where she saw that Madam Rosmerta was taking their orders.

"So how do we sabotage the date? Or is Hermione going to take care of that for us now?" Daphne asked.

Luna was torn between letting Daphne in on the plan and keeping her opponent at arm's length. At the end, she decided to do the former. Hannah was also a contender and that meant that Daphne would want her eliminated too.

"Ginny is supposed to order some tomato soup. When the order comes, I'm supposed to send it flying into Hannah. That will ruin the date and with some luck, Neville and Hannah will end up together," Luna quickly explained.

Daphne gave her an odd look and burst out laughing. "That's it? That's your brilliant plan to eliminate her?"

Luna gave her an irritated look. "I don't see you coming up with anything better."

Daphne's laughter died down slowly. "No, I suppose not but you might as well get your wand out now because here comes their orders."

Luna followed Daphne's gaze and saw that Madam Rosmerta was heading towards Harry's table with assorted beverages and meals, one of which was a bowl of what Luna assumed was Ginny's tomato soup.

The next few moments seemed to move in slow motion for by the time Luna pulled out her wand, Madam Rosmerta had tripped over a chair, sending the entire tray and its contents flying towards Harry's table. The soup, in particular, was sailing in the air at Ginny who had raised her hands above her head, but Harry was quick and he conjured a shield to protect her. The bowl shattered on the shield, splattering Neville, Harry, and Hannah with tomato soup.

Hannah was caught off guard by the series of events and could only sit there with a surprised look on her face, which was now covered in tomato soup.

Luna looked back at Daphne who was giving her a smug look. Daphne placed her right hand on the table which was now holding a wand.

"You tripped her didn't you?" Luna asked, regarding Daphne with suspicion.

Daphne shook her head. "No, that's the beauty of it all. I only sent the soup flying at Weasley because I think that her plan deserves to be ruined for being so stupid. I didn't expect Harry to protect her."

"You forget that he considers her a friend even if he isn't dating her anymore," Luna pointed out.

Their discussion was cut short by the sound of Hannah's crying as she dashed by their table. The two girls looked back at Harry's table where they saw Ginny urge Neville to go after the Hufflepuff.

"Come on, we can't let Weasley reap the benefits of her accidental victory," Daphne said, making her way toward Harry's table as Neville ran by to chase after Hannah.

Luna followed Daphne but she was a little surprised to find that Ron and Hermione beat them to the table.

"Are you ok Harry?" Hermione was asking. "We saw what happened, that was awful."

"Yeah mate," Ron agreed. "But quick thinking there."

Harry could only bury his face in his hands and groan. "Hannah must think I'm an absolute git for not shielding her too."

"I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, it'll all work out," Daphne interrupted.

Hermione did nothing but Ron spun around, drawing his wand in one fluid motion and pointed it at Daphne.

"Very good Weasley," Daphne commented. If Daphne was a little worried with Ron pointing his wand at her, Luna certainly could not tell.

"I think this is your doing Greengrass," Ron said accusingly.

"Brilliant deduction but I hate to break it to you, I had nothing to do with it," Daphne replied calmly.

Before Ron could retort, Hermione intervened. "I believe you Daphne."

Daphne seemed to be studying Hermione intently for a few moments but said nothing.

"Here, let's get you cleaned up," Hermione said, turning back to Harry and casting a cleaning charm on him and the table.

"I think we'll be fine now," Ginny told them. "You guys can get back to your date."

"You sure you'll be ok with her around?" Ron said, indicating in Daphne's direction. Hermione appeared that she would have nothing of it for she grabbed hold of Ron's sleeve and dragged him away to their table.

"Mind if we join you?" Daphne asked Harry, much to Ginny's annoyance.

"Yes!" Ginny exclaimed.

"No," Harry said shortly after, giving Ginny an odd look at her outburst. "Have a seat. We don't mind."

Luna could tell that Ginny was still irritated but Luna knew that her friend could do nothing about it.

"I think I should find some way to make it up to Hannah," Harry said once the two girls had seated themselves. "I know she was looking forward to having a good time but I think I ruined that one."

"Don't worry about her Harry," Ginny said, making an attempt to comfort him. "Neville will take care of her."

"But…" Harry began to protest.

"As much as I hate to say this, I agree," Daphne chimed in. "Given how fast Neville ran after her, I think that not only will he take care of her but he'll also get her to forgive you."

Harry seemed to be reassured by the support from his friends but Luna knew that he probably still felt guilty on some level.

"Perhaps I should lay off the dating for a while," Harry said. "My streak for the past three years has been horrible."

"Nonsense," Luna said. "I think that's even more a reason to keep dating. You'll only get better at it."

"Harry, there are plenty of girls who fancy you and this mishap isn't going to change that," Ginny added. "I mean even Daphne here fancies you. Is she someone you'd be interested in dating?"

Luna had to applaud Ginny for that move. It was definitely brilliant because Harry's answer could eliminate Daphne from the contest, leaving it clear for Ginny to go all the way since no other contender could really pose a threat.

"I think you're wrong there Weasley," Daphne replied before Harry could respond. "I never had the chance to get to know Harry before for obvious reasons. Now that those reasons are gone, I want to get to know him. What's wrong with that?"

Ginny glared at the Slytherin but Daphne continued. "I think you're jealous of our friendship, though I cannot imagine why, and I don't think I should have to put up with this anymore."

With that, Daphne tried to stand up to leave but Harry put out an arm to stop her.

"Stay," Harry pleaded. "Ginny didn't mean what she said and she'll apologize to you, isn't that right Gin?"

Daphne smiled at Harry and risked a glance in Ginny's direction to see her reaction. Daphne seemed to be even more pleased that Ginny was shooting a glare in her direction.

Luna almost burst out laughing. Her friend's plan had just backfired and Daphne was getting ahead of the pack.

"I will not!" Ginny said hotly. "It's true that Daphne fancies you and wants to go on a date with you! Why is that hard to believe?"

Harry turned to Ginny, his eyes flashing in anger at the redhead. "All right Gin, that's enough! Since you've been pressing the issue, I think I will just go on a date with Daphne."

All three girls were floored at Harry's declaration as none of them had expected that.

"So will you go out with me?" Harry asked Daphne, a shy grin now finding its way onto his face.

Daphne blushed prettily but she nodded her agreement.

"Wait! You can't go on a date with her!" Ginny cried out.

"And why not?" Harry asked slowly, daring Ginny to challenge him.

Ginny appeared to be frantically looking for a reason but when she turned to her, Luna knew that this would go badly.

"Because Luna wants to date you," Ginny blurted out.

Luna noticed that all eyes were on her now but Harry, in particular, did not look very convinced. "Is that true Luna?"

Luna thought about it for a moment and the first thing that came to mind was a feeling of betrayal. Ginny could have just as easily told Harry that she still fancied him and Harry might have gone on a date with her instead of Daphne. However, Luna was disappointed that her friend chose to throw her under the bus. Perhaps it would be better off if Ginny was on her own.

"No it isn't Harry. Ginny is just trying to pull your leg," Luna explained as she reached into her pocket for her list. She pulled it out of her pocket, dropped it onto the floor and kicked it under Ginny's robes. "But I would suggest you reject me properly anyway so that Ginny knows you're serious."

Harry merely gave her a baffled look.

"Humor me please. Just repeat after me," Luna said, now sounding playful. "Sorry Luna but I can't go on a date with you."

Harry slowly repeated the words that Luna had told him to say.

"Thank you Harry," Luna said as she stood up.

Luna began to walk away but she turned briefly to Ginny, gave her a wink and told her to check her robes.

Ginny let out a cry out surprise as she saw that her robes were on fire and she used her wand to douse the flames. As for Luna, she walked off feeling very self-satisfied.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this one took a long time but I've been busy. As usual, any feedback would be appreciated.


	5. Round Four: Ginny vs Daphne

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 5: Round Four: Ginny vs. Daphne**

After having her robe set on fire by Luna and watching Harry ask Daphne out, an angry Ginny Weasley stormed back to the castle by herself. As soon as she arrived at the Gryffindor tower, she went up to the dorm room that she shared with the other girls and threw herself onto her bed. Things were definitely not going as planned.

All she wanted was to get back together with Harry after the war ended but Daphne had to go and ruin it for her. While Luna had been eliminated from the contest, Ginny did not like the fact that she lost a valuable ally. Still, it did not matter much since Luna botched up the plan she had laid out. If it weren't for Harry, Ginny knew that she would be the one covered in tomato soup instead of the table's other three occupants.

No one knew that Harry had asked Daphne on a date yet and no one would know unless Daphne or Harry told someone, or unless Ginny said something herself. Ginny convinced herself that this was a temporary setback and that timing was everything. If she could somehow build some animosity between Harry and Daphne then Harry just might come running back to her. She just needed a plan. And so for the next hour, she racked her brain of different ways of how to go about ruining any relationship that Daphne might have with Harry.

The first step of that plan would probably be taken care of by Harry himself because he would tell her brother and Hermione about his upcoming date with Daphne. Knowing her brother, he would be infuriated that Harry would choose the Slytherin Ice Princess over her. Hermione would take Ron's side on this one because Ginny knew that Hermione would support a relationship between Harry and her boyfriend's sister but not anyone else. Ginny just had to make sure that Harry told them in the common room. It would create a scene and, if there was enough pressure, Harry just might call off the date with Daphne and the Slytherin girl would be eliminated from the contest.

If that did not eliminate Daphne, and Ginny suspected that it might not since Harry could be stubborn, then step two involved stunning Daphne and using some polyjuice potion to take her place on the day of the date. Ginny would try to convince Hannah or some other contestant to kiss Harry in front of her as Daphne. She would make a scene and run away with Harry close behind. She would then run to Ron and Hermione and take another polyjuice potion to change back into herself. Harry would be confused that "Daphne" disappeared and would go looking for her. The great part about the whole thing was when Harry eventually met up with real Daphne, he would apologize for kissing another girl and the real Daphne would be mad at him for that. It was brilliant.

Ginny was giddy with anticipation. By now, it was possible that everyone had returned from Hogsmeade so Ginny hopped off her bed and went down to the common room to look for Ron and Hermione.

* * *

When she got down to the common room, she saw Ron and Hermione sitting on the couch talking in quiet tones to themselves. They looked up at her when she approached, concern evident in their facial expressions. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Is everything ok?" she asked her. "We saw you run out of the Three Broomsticks looking angry and we followed you here but we thought that you might want some time to yourself."

Ginny smiled slightly at her friend but shook her head. "No, not everything is fine. Daphne set my robe on fire and to make matters worse, Harry asked her on a date."

As Ginny predicted earlier, Ron jumped up in a rage while Hermione had a troubled look on her face.

"HE WHAT!" Ron shouted, instantly gaining the attention of everyone in the common room. "I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'D ASK DAPHNE OUT! WHERE IS HARRY? I'M GOING TO KILL THAT GIT!"

"Ron calm down," Hermione pleaded from the chair. "Harry went home to Grimmauld Place remember? I don't think barging in on him at this hour is going to solve anything and you're scaring the first years."

Ron stopped to look around and saw some of the first years with scared looks huddling in a corner behind one of the chairs.

"Calm down!" Ron said hotly. "Hermione, he knew that Ginny liked him and he even dated her for a bit. Now he's just playing around with her feelings and that makes me mad. Mum would definitely hex him into next week if she heard about this. I mean doesn't it bother you that he's now dating that Slytherin instead of Ginny?"

"Of course it bothers me," Hermione insisted. "But I think that we should try to talk to him and see what's going on."

"I don't think that'll help," Ron said, plopping himself back into the chair next to Hermione. "That Slytherin's gotta be using love potions or something. Otherwise I'm sure that Harry would've asked Ginny out again. What do you think Gin? Was he acting strange earlier?"

Ginny grinned inwardly. This was going well for her so far. Just a little push and her brother and Hermione would help her snag Harry away from Daphne. "Things were just fine until Daphne came by with Luna."

It was not a lie. Everything was going well for her until Daphne and Luna stopped by her table after Neville left.

"Then that's gotta be it," Ron said, slamming a fist into his open hand. "She's using love potions on him. Next chance I get, I'll teach that Slytherin a thing or two about meddling with my best mate."

"I'll definitely help you there," Ginny readily agreed. "What about you Hermione?"

Hermione frowned. "I think I'll go talk to Harry first thing in the morning. You two don't have training tomorrow right?"

Ron shook his head. "Nope, I'll come with you."

"No, I want to do this myself," Hermione said.

"But –" Ron began to protest.

"No Ron, you stay put and I'll talk to him," Hermione said firmly. "You may be his best mate but when it comes to relationships, you're useless. I mean it took you six years to figure out how to date a girl."

Ron's ears turned pink out of embarrassment and the two girls shared a laugh at his expense. It was indeed a miracle that Ron had figured out how to handle witches and though Ginny did not know how he managed to learn, she was glad that he did.

* * *

The next morning Ginny woke up and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She realized that she had to finish a few assignments for her classes but she also needed to find time to steal a little polyjuice potion from Slughorn's office since she probably couldn't brew it in time. Daphne's date with Harry couldn't be more than a couple weeks away at most. It then occurred to Ginny that she did not know exactly when or where the date would take place. Since Harry was not in school, he was not so limited to Hogsmeade, or even the school grounds. Fortunately for her, Hermione might know that information because she would likely ask Harry himself when she talked to him.

After breakfast, Ginny went back to the common room and she saw that Hermione was waiting there. But Ginny was surprised to find that Hermione did not look too happy. In fact, Hermione was sending glares in her direction.

"What wrong?" Ginny asked her friend, in the most nonchalant way she could.

"You know what's wrong," Hermione replied harshly.

"Did you speak to Harry this morning?" Ginny asked, caught off guard by Hermione's tone.

"Yes, the Headmistress was nice enough to let me use her fireplace to talk to him," Hermione said. "You lied to us last night."

"About what?" Ginny asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Don't play coy with me," Hermione scolded her. "Daphne didn't set your robe on fire and I don't think that she's using love potions on Harry."

"Did you ask her yourself?" Ginny asked. There had to be a flaw somewhere in Hermione's reasoning.

"No, I didn't but Harry seemed to be normal. One of the telling symptoms of love potions is that the victim will be unusually obsessive about the person who fed it to him and Harry is not exhibiting that," Hermione said.

"Hermione, she's a Slytherin! Of course she set my robe on fire so that she could get Harry herself," Ginny said defensively.

"Even if she did, that doesn't explain why you would let us believe that he was under the influence of love potions," Hermione said. "Unless you're jealous of them."

"I can't believe that you're ok with them going on a date," Ginny said, frustrated by the direction the conversation was going.

"I told you before, I'm not ok with it either," Hermione shot back.

"Then why let them go ahead with it!" Ginny yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Did you tell him to call off his date?"

"I told him to be careful but Daphne is not Malfoy and I'm not going to intervene as long as Harry is making the choice himself," Hermione replied.

"Hermione," Ginny said, letting herself down onto the floor. It was a good thing that the common room was empty since Ginny would be embarrassed if anyone else saw her in this state. "Ever since you got together with my brother, all I wanted was for Harry to ask me to be his girlfriend again so that we can be the one big happy family that he's always wanted."

"If he's not making a move, why not ask him out yourself?" Hermione suggested. "I mean you're far more attractive than any girl at this school. Me, on the other hand, I'm just a plain girl and other than your brother, none of the boys pay attention to me. And you're a fun person to be around."

"Did you find out when he's going on his date with _her_?" Ginny asked, emphasizing the last bit with disdain.

"This weekend," Hermione said. "I think he had something like a picnic planned by the lake. But promise me that you won't try to ruin it. I'm sure that this is a temporary setback and he'll come around."

"What if he doesn't?" Ginny asked.

"Then I'll see if I can do something about it," Hermione said with a grin. "Now come, let's go find your brother."

* * *

Later that night, Ginny snuck out of the Gryffindor common room and headed down to the potions classroom under a disillusionment charm to avoid detection. While it was great that Hermione was on her side, Ginny couldn't let Daphne get ahead in this contest and so she was determined to knock her out or sabotage the Slytherin's progress.

At this late hour, there was no one around in the halls except for the occasional prefect patrolling the halls. She would always duck into a classroom or hide behind one of the many suits of armor whenever one came by. Even with the charm, she was not completely invisible and an observant person might notice her.

It took her a good fifteen minutes to get to the potions classroom but once she got there, Ginny noticed that the door was ajar and Slughorn was inside going through his potions cabinet, arranging certain potions and dumping out others.

She slowly opened the door wider so that she could slip through. Fortunately, it was a little dark inside so it was possible that Slughorn wouldn't notice her if she stuck to the shadows. All she needed was a distraction so that she could get the polyjuice potion she needed. This sneaking around reminded her of some of the adventures she had with Neville and some of the other students, avoiding the Carrows in the halls and trying to create some trouble for the two death eaters.

Shaking off the nostalgia, Ginny needed to create a distraction to get Slughorn away from the cabinet, get the potion and get out. The shelves full of cauldrons on the other side of the classroom would do nicely. Ginny fired cutting charms into a few of the shelves and the entire case went down.

The noise startled Slughorn who spun around rather quickly for a man his size with his wand lit. He seemed to be listening intently for any sound in the room. Hearing none after a few moments, he moved slowly over to where the cauldrons were muttering to himself.

Now that Slughorn was away from the potions cabinet, Ginny ventured into the lit area and made her way as quickly as she could to see if she could get her hands on some polyjuice. It didn't take her long to find some since Slughorn had apparently arranged everything in alphabetical order. Grabbing a bottle of the polyjuice, she transferred some of it into two vials that she had in her robe. After plugging the vials and replacing them in her robe, she replaced the bottle on the shelf and snuck back out of the classroom.

The trip back to the Gryffindor tower was non-eventful with the exception of having to hide behind a suit of armor to avoid Mrs. Norris and Filch but she made it all the way back up to her room.

After checking to make sure that her roommates were still asleep, Ginny canceled the disillusionment charm and pulled the two vials out of her robe. She hid the vials in her book bag next to her bed and went back to sleep.

* * *

By the middle of the week, Ginny decided that she would get Lavender to help her with her plan. Her fellow Gryffindor was enthusiastic at the suggestion since the news of Harry and Daphne spread like wildfire after Ron's outburst in the common room the other day. Lavender wanted a piece of the action after not having done anything for a few months and having all of the Slytherins knocked out of the contest would make all the more fun.

It took about an hour to explain the plan to Lavender whose bubbly personality was grating on Ginny by the end of the session. However, Lavender got to kiss Harry while Ginny would be playing "Daphne." Ginny did not think that Lavender was very bright and Ginny hoped that Lavender just might get eliminated also. But, as a precaution, Ginny would have to make sure to cast a confundus charm on Lavender so that she would definitely kiss Harry, thinking him to be her boyfriend. The hardest part of the plan would be to find Daphne before she met up with Harry and stun her.

* * *

On the day that Daphne was to go on her date with Harry, Ginny first went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lavender was difficult to wake up on a weekend but she was not needed until later. With luck, Daphne would leave by herself and Ginny could stun her and hide her in an empty classroom.

Ginny took a seat close to Ron and Hermione who were conversing to themselves. While eating breakfast, she glanced from time to time at the doorway to see if Daphne arrived.

Daphne eventually entered the Great Hall with Tracey by her side. The two Slytherin girls made their way over to their table and sat down to eat. Ginny watched the two girls so intently while thinking of her plan that she did not hear Neville ask her if he could sit with them. So she jumped up in surprise when Neville placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Ginny?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

She looked up at him.

"Is it ok if Hannah and I sit here with you guys?" Neville asked.

Ginny was rendered speechless for a moment by the question. It meant that her plan worked last time and that Hannah was no longer a threat. But she had checked the list earlier and Hannah was still on there.

"So what's going on here Neville?" Ron asked the boy. "Did you finally get your act together?"

Hannah answered for him.

"Yes he did," she said with a radiant smile, leaning into the boy sitting next to her. "Harry is nice but it was Neville who took care of me after that disaster. He even confessed that he fancied me. I thought I'd give it a try. So far he's been great."

"Congratulations!" Ginny told him. "We're all very glad for you."

"Thanks," he replied with a grin, before turning serious again. "Say, I heard that Harry was going out with that Greengrass girl. Is that true?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Ron replied sourly. "I don't like it. Harry would be far better off with someone else."

Ron threw a meaningful look at Ginny at the last statement.

"This again? Can we talk about something else?" Hermione snapped.

"But you said you're not fond of it either," Ron said defensively.

"Yes but that doesn't mean that you have to talk about it all the time," Hermione said irritably. "I let you stay with me in the head girl's suite but I could hear nothing but Daphne and Harry ever since the Hogsmeade weekend. Enough already!"

"All right, all right," Ron said, putting his hands up in surrender.

Ginny took another look at the Slytherin table to see Daphne get up and walk out of the Great Hall. Unfortunately, she had Tracey with her. This meant that Ginny would have to camp out by the Slytherin common room to catch Daphne before she met up with Harry. But first she needed to get Lavender so she excused herself from the table a short while after the two Slytherins left and headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

When Ginny arrived at the tower, she was shocked to find that Harry was waiting in the common room.

"Hey," he said from the chair he was sitting in.

"Hi," Ginny said. "I wasn't expecting you here. Aren't you supposed to be here later?"

"Hermione told you about the date I take it. I was hoping to see Ron and Hermione before I see Daphne," he said. "Do you know where they are?"

Ginny frowned at the mention of Daphne.

"I know you're not happy about this," Harry said, getting up from the chair and going toward Ginny. "Hermione wasn't pleased either when I told her about today. Anyway, do you know where she is? I'd like to say hi."

"They're down in the Great Hall with Neville and Hannah," Ginny said as she headed in the direction of the girl's dorm. "They're together now."

"That's great news. Thanks. Oh and Ginny?"

Ginny paused at the bottom of the stairway but did not turn around to face him.

"I'm sorry."

With that, Harry went out the portrait.

* * *

Ginny ran up the stairway to her dorm room and threw the door open, startling a sleepy Lavender.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Ginny said angrily. "As if sorry could ever make up for ditching me for that – that ARGH!"

"Yes but that's why you've got your plan," Lavender replied from the bed. "I might be dumb compared to you but I have a good feeling about this. That Slytherin will never know what hit her. Now let's get ready. Do you have the polyjuice?"

Ginny nodded and the two girls busied themselves preparing to put their plan into action.

* * *

A few hours later, Ginny went down to the common room and headed out the portrait. She knew that Daphne would probably meet Harry at the entrance but Ginny had no idea where the Slytherin common room was so she patrolled the dungeons hoping to run into Daphne before she could get to the entrance. While she waited, she plucked a strand of hair from her own head and dumped into one of the vials of polyjuice that she had in her robe.

Soon enough the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway and Ginny followed the sound under the cover of a disillusionment charm.

"You sure you'll be ok?" Ginny heard a voice say, most likely Daphne's.

"Yes, now go have fun with Harry," came the reply. "I think you're lucky to have him and I hope that it turns out well for you."

She heard the footsteps head in the direction of the entrance so Ginny had to move at a brisk pace to catch up with them.

She finally caught up with Daphne who was walking alone and sent a stunner flying at the girl from behind. Daphne's stunned body fell to the floor and Ginny dragged the girl into one of the nearby classrooms. She first pulled a strand of hair from the girl, dropped into the remaining vial of polyjuice, and swallowed the potion.

Although she had taken polyjuice before when they had served as decoys during Harry's escape from the Dursleys, the sensation was still very uncomfortable. When she was done transforming, she noticed that her clothes were feeling a bit tight in certain places. Ginny had to admit that the Slytherin girl had a good figure. Changing into Daphne's clothes and leaving the Slytherin girl naked in an empty classroom would look suspicious so she settled for transfiguring her clothes into the same outfit that Daphne was wearing.

Before she left, another idea struck Ginny. She cast a memory charm on Daphne and modified the girl's memory so that Daphne would forget that she had a date with Harry today and believe that she had just taken a nap in the empty classroom after breakfast.

Once that was done, Ginny left the classroom and locked the door behind her to prevent anyone from rescuing Daphne anytime soon.

* * *

When Ginny arrived back at the main entrance, she was glad to find that Lavender was doing her part by waiting for Harry. As for Ginny, she hid herself behind a pillar but in a way that still allowed her a good view of the entrance.

Harry came by moments later with a picnic basket in his hand but Ginny noticed that his face was bruised and she wondered if her brother had decked him when Harry found him and Hermione. Lavender spotted him quickly and approached him in a flirtatious manner. Lavender attached herself to one of his arms and began to ask him questions about what the picnic basket was for and what was in it. Lavender also noticed the bruise on his face and lifted a hand to touch it. She also asked him if everything was all right.

After about a minute, Ginny was disgusted by the sight of Lavender flirting with Harry and sent a confundus charm at her to get her to kiss Harry. It worked and seconds later, Lavender had tackled the boy, pushed him up against a wall and began to kiss him. Ginny could not let her take too long so she entered the scene as Daphne and let out a loud gasp. Harry apparently heard her for he pushed Lavender away from him. Even so, Harry could only stare at her, not knowing what to do.

Ginny shook her head at him and turned to run in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, her hands over her eyes as if she were crying. She glanced back on occasion to see if Harry was following, which he was. Ginny needed to lose him first so she could drink the other vial of polyjuice. A few twists and turns later, Ginny found the opportunity to hide herself in a little alcove where she was able to finally drink the remaining vial of polyjuice to change back to herself. The uncomfortable sensation washed over her again as she changed back to herself but she was relieved when it was over because she did not like being in the body of her opponent. She then transfigured her clothes back to what they were before and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

On the way there, she ran into Ron and Hermione who were presumably heading down to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Ginny!" Her brother called out when he spotted her. "We were going to get some lunch, do you want to join us?"

"Sure," Ginny replied.

The three of them were still making their way to the Great Hall for lunch when Harry found them.

"Hey guys, have you seen Daphne?" Harry asked. "I saw her run in this direction."

"No but I think you should be able to keep track of your girlfriend," Ron said sharply.

"What happened?" Hermione asked. "I thought you were supposed to go on your date today?"

"Yes," Harry explained. "I was waiting by the entrance for Daphne and Lavender was there. She kissed me right when Daphne arrived and Daphne saw it. She ran off and that's why I was chasing her."

"I see, well you're probably better off without her," Hermione stated.

Ginny had expected her brother to be overjoyed at the news but she was taken aback when Ron's right hook caught Harry in the jaw, sending him spinning into the wall. Another punch later and Harry was down on the floor, trying to fend off repeated punches from Ron.

"I DON'T GET THIS! HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU WANT TO HURT GINNY? HUH! FIRST THAT GREENGRASS GIRL AND NOW LAVENDER," Ron yelled as he blindly swung at Harry on the ground.

This was not what Ginny wanted. She did not want her brother to be fighting with Harry. Not now.

Suddenly Ron was thrown off of Harry by an invisible force and Ginny saw that Hermione had her wand drawn and pointed directly at her boyfriend.

"ENOUGH RON! STOP HURTING HIM!" Hermione shouted. "Harry's relationship with Daphne is over and you should be happy."

"But he is barely starting one relationship and he is already trying to get the next girl," Ron retorted. "How is it that Harry gets all of these girls while I'm only stuck with Hermione?"

Ginny wanted to throttle her brother at that point. He was really an idiot.

Hermione walked up to Ron and slapped him in the face. Harry soon followed and slammed his fist into Ron's jaw.

"Couldn't be satisfied with a girl who cares for you huh?" Harry asked angrily. "I thought that Hermione would be happy with you but I can see that I was mistaken."

Hermione was now crying and Harry moved to comfort her.

"I thought that you had changed and I thought that we had left all your petty behavior behind," Hermione said in between hiccups. "I don't know what came over me."

"I'm sorry Hermione," Ron apologized from the floor, rubbing his jaw with a free hand.

"No Ron," Hermione said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I think it's time we took a break."

* * *

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed so far. I appreciate the feedback and would be glad to hear more of what you guys think.


	6. Round Five: Lavender vs Daphne & Ginny

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 6: Round Five: Lavender vs. Daphne & Ginny  
**

Lavender Brown was heading in the direction of the Gryffindor common room when she ran into Ron Weasley, who was heading in the opposite direction. The boy was rubbing his jaw with one hand. Lavender noticed that his cheek was also red and that his demeanor was somber.

"What happened to you?" she asked as Ron passed by.

"What's it to you?" Ron snapped and continued walking.

Lavender did not appreciate Ron's attitude, but she was also one for drama so she decided to follow the boy and see what was wrong.

"Look," she said, matching Ron's pace. "I don't know what happened to you but I want to help."

Ron laughed in spite of his state. "Why would you want to help me? Shouldn't you be back at the common room snogging Harry?"

Lavender thought back to the plan that she and Ginny hatched. She remembered kissing Harry but she did not know why she believed for that moment that Harry was her boyfriend. Either way, it was probably not relevant, and she could potentially use this opportunity to sabotage her co-conspirator since Ginny did not make her take any oath of silence. She let out a high pitched laugh. "Why would I want to do that? Your sister came up with that plan so that Harry and that Slytherin girl wouldn't get together. Isn't that what you wanted? Or are you jealous?"

Ron stopped in his tracks and turned to face Lavender. "So the plan the whole time was to make the Greengrass girl think that he was cheating on her?"

"That's right," Lavender replied with a grin. "I may be a ditz sometimes but I'm not an idiot to see that _clearly_ Harry does not belong with that Slytherin."

Ron slapped himself in the forehead and Lavender could not figure out why the boy would do such a thing.

"I'm such a git…," Ron muttered. "And here I thought that Harry was playing around. This'll help me patch things up with Hermione."

Ron began to walk back in the direction he came from, dragging Lavender behind him.

"Did you have a fight with Hermione? And isn't the Hospital Wing back that way?" Lavender asked as she allowed the boy to lead her back toward the Gryffindor common room.

"Look, Hermione broke up with me because I made a dumb comment," Ron said. "With you to tell Hermione about Ginny's plan, I'm sure she'll understand."

"Hermione broke up with you!" she exclaimed.

In an instant, Ron's hand was covering Lavender's mouth. "Shh, not too loud. I don't want this to get out. I just want to make things right with Hermione."

"What did you say to her?" she asked.

"None of your concern," Ron replied flatly.

* * *

When the pair arrived at the Gryffindor common room, Lavender noticed that it was completely empty except for Neville and Hannah, who was sitting on his lap. They were reading a book together by the fireplace.

"Have either of you seen Hermione?" Ron asked them.

"No, why?" Neville asked as he glanced up at his friend. Lavender saw that Neville and Hannah's expressions changed to ones of shock when they noted Ron's bruised face.

"That looks terrible," Neville commented. "Shouldn't you be getting that taken care of in the Hospital Wing?"

"Hermione and I had a little misunderstanding," Ron told them.

"That's an understatement," Hannah deadpanned. "A misunderstanding that involved her slapping you repeatedly in the face? What did you say to her?"

"No one asked you for your opinion," Ron replied sharply. "I'm going down to the Hospital Wing. Just let me know if Hermione comes by will you?"

"Sure, no problem," Neville said as Ron left through the portrait.

Once Ron had gone, Neville asked Lavender if she knew what had happened between Ron and Hermione.

"I don't know any more than you do really," Lavender replied.

"Did it have something to do with you?" Hannah asked. "I mean when you entered, he was dragging you behind him."

"Of course not," she insisted. "All I know is that Hermione broke up with him."

Realizing what she had just said, Lavender covered her mouth with her hands and gave Neville and Hannah a sheepish look.

"Oops," Lavender said softly. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I couldn't help it though...news like that was just too much to keep to myself."

"Yeah well Ron's an idiot for telling you," Hannah said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lavender said defensively. "You were just as curious as I was and you'd probably never know if I didn't tell you."

"She has a point dear," Neville said to Hannah before turning his attention back to Lavender. "But even if you didn't tell us I think Hermione would. I imagine this is the kind of stuff that she wouldn't keep to herself either."

"In that case, I'm going up to tell Parvati," Lavender said, going into gossip mode.

* * *

The next day at lunch was interesting for Lavender because Harry Potter had decided to join them at the Gryffindor table for the first time this year. The fact that he chose to sit next to Hermione was no surprise given that she had broken up with Ron the night before. However, when Ron Weasley showed up to lunch, the entire Gryffindor table seemed to be on edge to see what happened. Thanks to Parvati, the everyone at the school already knew about the demise of Ron and Hermione's relationship.

The table got suddenly quiet as Ron approached Hermione. "Hermione, I need to talk to you about last night."

Hermione did not respond, but Ginny, who was sitting on Hermione's other side, spoke.

"Ron, I don't think you should be talking to her right now. She's still mad at you," Ginny told her brother.

His sister's warning did not dissuade the boy and he continued to plead to Hermione to talk to him.

"Please Hermione, you don't need to say anything, I just want to talk to you in private and explain everything," Ron said to Hermione.

Hermione huffed in annoyance at Ron's persistence and turned to face her ex-boyfriend. Harry, meanwhile, had put a supportive arm around Hermione and glared at the redheaded boy standing behind them as if warning him not to try something.

"I think that this entire table knows about our breakup," Hermione said, her anger clearly displayed on her face. "Whatever you have to say you can say here. But I can't possibly imagine that you'd be able to explain what you said last night."

Ron looked around at the table and saw that all eyes were on him now. The rest of the Great Hall had also quieted down as the other students at the school was curious about what was going on at the Gryffindor table.

"Ahem, well…" Ron began. "See last night I had run into Lavender and she had told me that her whole kissing Harry – "

There were gasps at the table at the revelation that Lavender had kissed Harry Potter. Ginny, however, was now looking at Lavender with a look of surprise and concern. Clearly the girl had not anticipated Lavender blowing their plan into the open and Lavender was reveling in the knowledge that Ginny might soon have Harry turn against her.

" – was all part of a plan to – " Ron continued before he was cut off by a silencing spell cast by Ginny.

"I think that's enough Ron," Ginny scolded her brother loud enough for everyone to hear. "Time for you to sit down and eat your lunch. I don't exactly see what Lavender kissing Harry has anything to do with you commenting that Harry seemed to get all of the pretty girls while you're only stuck with Hermione."

The entire Great Hall was now abuzz with gossip as a result of what had transpired. As for Lavender, she thought that Ron was an insensitive git to say something like that to Hermione.

"Serves him right don't you think?" Parvati commented next to her.

"I agree. Hermione was justified in breaking up with him and slapping him silly," Lavender said to her friend, glancing briefly at a miserable Ron who was now sitting at the end of the table by himself since none of the other students wanted to sit near to him for fear of Hermione's wrath.

"But you kissed Harry?" Parvati asked with raised eyebrows. "You didn't tell me that last night."

Lavender smirked at her best friend. "You're just jealous."

Parvati giggled. "I suppose I am, a little."

"Hey look, it's the Greengrass girl," Lavender heard a fifth year student say. "What's she doing coming over here?"

Looking around her, Lavender spotted Daphne who was indeed coming to the Gryffindor table. Harry seemed to meet Daphne's eyes and looked a little guilty. Lavender figured that was because he believed that it was Daphne who witnessed yesterday's events.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" Daphne asked Harry when she got to the table.

"Umm…sure," Harry replied nervously.

Daphne sat down on Harry's other side and smiled at the boy. "So this is new. You've come to the Great Hall for lunch."

"Look Daphne, I'm sorry about yesterday," Harry apologized. "She jumped me and when I had pushed her off you had run off. I chased after you but you disappeared."

Daphne looked at Harry with raised eyebrows. "What about yesterday and who jumped on you?"

"Don't you remember? We had a date and you saw Lavender kiss me?" Harry explained.

"Interesting that you should mention that we had a date yesterday," Daphne replied thoughtfully. "Tracey said the same thing last night when I returned to the common room. You see, I don't remember that we even had a date."

After overhearing that part Lavender felt that she should try to run because now Ginny's whole plan was going to unravel itself. Perhaps she was an idiot for thinking the plan would have worked in the first place.

"You don't!" Harry exclaimed in surprise. On his other side, Hermione and Ginny were also now intently listening.

Daphne shook her head before continuing. "But I think it's even more fascinating that I was there to see Lavender kiss you because the last thing I remember was waking up in some classroom with a headache. I wonder how that could have happened..."

The Slytherin threw a meaningful look in Lavender's direction at the last bit. The look caused Lavender to panic so she got up hastily and began to gather her books.

"Where are you going?" Parvati asked with a confused look.

"Back to my room," Lavender replied quickly. "I just remembered that I had something to do. I'll explain later."

With that, Lavender ran out of the Great Hall and did not stop until she was back in her room up in the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Later that day after all the classes were over Lavender heard a knock at her door. When she opened it, she saw Ginny Weasley standing there frowning at her.

"I don't know why you told my brother about our plan," Ginny huffed. "As much as I think he'd be happy about it, I didn't think he'd be stupid enough to try to use it to make up with Hermione."

"Why are you so concerned?" Lavender retorted. "If anyone should be worried, it's me! I think Greengrass is going to try to get back at me for trying to ruin her relationship with Harry."

"And if you had kept your mouth shut, no one would be the wiser. Fortunately for us, I was able to cast a silencing spell on Ron before he could reveal any more."

"How does that solve the problem?" Lavender asked. "He still knows and the moment he's able to talk, he'll tell Hermione, or worse, Harry. Then neither of us will have a chance."

"Exactly why I came up here," Ginny said, grinning at her. "I've already taken case of my brother with a memory charm. He won't remember a thing except that you were trying to sabotage Harry's relationship with Greengrass and I'm going to make sure that you'll never be able to ruin my chances with Harry either."

The next thing Lavender saw was a blinding flash and she remembered no more.

* * *

For the rest of the month and into December, Lavender spent some time thinking of how to get closer to Harry but with little success. Another complication was the fact that Harry was spending more time in the company of Hermione, Ginny, and the Greengrass girl. Evidently her plan to ruin Harry's relationship with the Greengrass girl did not work at all and the Slytherin was probably closer to Harry than she was before.

As for Ron, he was still making attempts to fix his relationship with Hermione, ranging from sending her roses to cards, presumably with romantic messages written in them. Lavender had to give the boy some credit. He was persistent. On her part, Hermione was not very receptive to the idea of dating Ron again and made her point quite clear by sending him on another trip to the Hospital Wing. However, even that did not deter Ron, which was why he had come to Lavender to seek her help.

"Lav, I need you to help me get back together with Hermione," Ron pleaded with her after they had met in the Room of Requirement.

Lavender crossed her arms and stared at the boy. "After what you said to Hermione? I think you're on your own. I don't need to create more problems for myself and why isn't your sister helping you?"

"My sister won't help me," Ron replied, sounding a little desperate. "She said that I've already endangered her chances with Harry and that her best shot with getting together with Harry is to have Hermione help her. Hermione won't help her if she's busy helping me fix my relationship."

"This is your fault in the first place. And you're not giving up why?" Lavender asked.

"Because Christmas is coming soon and mum will want all of us to be back home, including Harry and Hermione," Ron explained. "Mum doesn't know that Hermione broke up with me yet and I don't want to destroy her dream of having Harry and Hermione as part of the family...besides, I think I love Hermione."

Ron's explanation sounded odd to Lavender. Was Ron making the decisions about who he should be dating or was his mother? But if he did love Hermione, who was she to get in the way of that? Maybe she could use this to her advantage and get something out of it.

"So what do I get in return?" Lavender asked finally.

"What do you want?"

"Hmm…let me think," Lavender said, bringing a finger to her chin. "How about a date with Harry?"

"What!" Ron exclaimed. "I can't give you that! Harry and Ginny would kill me!"

"Then you're on your own," Lavender said.

"Ok fine, but only one date," Ron agreed.

"That's all I ask," Lavender said, smiling at Ron.

* * *

It was a week before Lavender could get Hermione by herself. She had found the girl in the library studying with Ginny. Hermione thought it was out of place to see her in the library but Lavender was able to convince Hermione that it was urgent and that they should talk alone. Hermione excused herself and allowed Lavender to lead her to an empty classroom.

"So what's this all about?" Hermione asked after the doors were closed.

"It's about Ron," Lavender replied. "He really wants to get back together with you."

"Oh, so now he's having you do his bidding," Hermione commented sarcastically.

Lavender shook her head. "I'm getting something out of this so think of it as a trade."

"So what did he offer you?"Hermione asked.

"Well," Lavender began. "I suppose you'd hear it from Ron sooner or later but he promised me a date with Harry."

"So he'd sell out his best friend like cattle to get back with me?" Hermione asked, appalled at the lengths at which Ron seemed to be going to get back together with her.

"Hermione, he loves you," Lavender insisted. "Ron told me that much the other day when he came to me to beg for help. I think he misses you and wants you to give him another chance. Please consider it."

Hermione sat down at one of the desks and covered her face with her hands.

"If nothing else, at least think of the seven years of friendship that you've had with him," Lavender pleaded. "Are you going to throw all of that away, not to mention a steady relationship, over one stupid comment? It's Ron you're talking about. He doesn't think about what he's saying sometimes."

Lavender thought she heard Hermione let out a small laugh.

"I wouldn't call our relationship exactly steady but all right, I'll give him another chance," Hermione told Lavender. "He's going to have to work hard at this though if he wants to redeem himself."

Lavender grinned at her. "What else are boyfriends good for if not for hard work?"

Hermione laughed. "I think that I'm going to find Ron and put him to work now."

* * *

Over the next few days Hermione was seen in the company of Ron again, which meant that the girl had decided to forgive Ron for his stupidity. However, Lavender heard later from Parvati, it came with a catch: Ron would have to do anything that Hermione said for a month. Whether or not that was accurate did not really matter to Lavender. What mattered was whether or not Ron kept his end of the bargain. Fortunately for her, it appeared that Ron was true to his word because within a week, Harry approached Lavender and asked her on a date in Hogsmeade. They agreed to meet by the entrance of the school. Lavender was so excited that she gave the boy a kiss on the cheek and proceeded to run off to share the good news with Parvati.

On the day of their date, Harry met Lavender by the entrance of the school. It was ironic that she was standing in the same spot where she had kissed Harry previously.

"Ready to go?" Harry asked when he arrived.

Lavender nodded and attached herself to one of his arms.

"Harry wait!" They heard a voice call out as they started to walk toward the carriages.

When they turned around, Lavender saw Daphne Greengrass running toward them. From Lavender's point of view, it looked like that Daphne had dressed herself up more than usual.

"I'm glad that I caught you before you left. Hermione told me that you two were going on a date today," Daphne said to Harry.

"Yeah, why?" Harry asked her, a little concern evident in his voice. "Is everything ok?"

"It's nothing," Daphne said, looking bashfully at Harry. "I just wanted to say have fun and don't forget about me ok?"

Daphne's next move caught both Harry and Lavender by surprise as Daphne put a hand on either side of Harry's face and gave him the most passionate kiss she could.

Lavender stood there in shock at Daphne's unexpected move. When the two finally broke off the kiss, Harry was staring down in a daze at Daphne who had a satisfied smile on her face.

"Now have fun on your date," Daphne told Harry as she began to walk away.

"Turnabout's fair play," Daphne whispered to Lavender as she passed. "I'm sure you'll understand."

Looking back at Harry, Lavender saw that the boy was staring at Daphne's retreating figure.

"So are we going on our date?" Lavender asked, seething in frustration.

Lavender's tone shook Harry out of his reverie and he looked at her. He let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this..." Harry told her. "I don't know why I let Hermione talk me into this but I can't go on a date with you."

Hermione talked him into this? Lavender thought that the date was because Ron carried out his part of their deal. She had been mistaken. Ah well, she thought, she'd have to get something else out of him the next time she saw him. Now she'd have to clean up the pile of ashes now sitting in one of the drawers next to her bed, but she had to admit that the contest had been fun. Without saying a word to Harry, Lavender turned and walked back to the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

The trip to the Gryffindor common room was uneventful. When she passed through the portrait, she saw Ron and Hermione sitting next to each other on the couch. Hermione was dictating something to Ron who was scribbling what she was saying on a piece of parchment in front of him. Lavender grinned to herself. Hermione looked like she was making Ron useful.

Lavender walked upstairs to her bed and opened the top drawer. Sure enough there was a pile of ashes sitting where her list had been. Lavender banished the ashes and sat on her bed. Since there was no one around, she thought she should go back downstairs and perhaps talk to Parvati if she could find the girl.

When she got downstairs, she saw that Ron was now sitting by himself in front of a large stack of books, writing something down on a piece of parchment.

"So how are things with Hermione?" Lavender asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Oh, Lavender," Ron said, looking in her direction. "Things are great, I can't thank you enough. I don't know what you said to Hermione but it worked."

"Speaking of which...I believe you owe me a date with Harry?" Lavender said suggestively.

"But I thought you were already going on one?" Ron asked. "Hermione told me about it."

"That didn't turn out so well," Lavender explained. "Harry said that he couldn't go through with it so that means you owe me something else."

"What do you want then?"

At that point an odd feeling washed over Lavender. She felt as if she were floating and only one feeling replaced every worry or thought in her mind: happiness.

"Lavender, are you ok?" she heard Ron say, a concerned expression on his face.

Lavender didn't answer him. A thought about how Ron could repay her for her help came to mind. She hoped that he wouldn't mind doing it either. Looking back at the boy, she suddenly realized that Ron was cute worrying over her the way he did. In fact, she felt like kissing him. So she did.

The kiss was about as wonderful as she thought it would be and it seemed that he was enjoying it as much as she was until a shrill voice snapped her out of her bliss.

"RONALD WEASLEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

Lavender turned around and saw a very angry Hermione Granger glaring at both of them. Lavender didn't even hear her enter the common room.

"Her-Hermione!" Ron said in surprise as he jumped to his feet. "I thought you went to the library!"

"Yes but I forgot one of my books here," Hermione told him. "So I give you another chance at making our relationship work and this is what you do!"

Hermione did not give Ron any time to reply but instead fired off a low-level blasting curse at him. Ron recoiled back at the blow and staggered to the ground in front of Lavender.

Lavender saw Hermione stalk out of the portrait, leaving a stunned Ronald Weasley at Lavender's feet.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this one took a while to post. It took me a while to figure out what to do and I did have a very hard time writing Lavender. Same as usual, feedback would be appreciated.


	7. Round Six: Hermione & Daphne vs Susan

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 7: Round Six: Hermione & Daphne vs. Susan**

Hermione Granger was sitting in the library across from Daphne Greengrass reading a letter from Molly Weasley. Mrs. Weasley was asking her and Harry to come to the Burrow for Christmas. Mrs. Weasley also wrote that she was happy that Hermione was dating her son Ron and asked if Hermione could be of any help in convincing Harry to get back together with Ginny. Hermione had to chuckle to herself at the former. Evidently neither Ron nor Ginny had told their mother that Hermione had broken up permanently with Ron on account of him "cheating" on her with Lavender.

Speaking of Ron, he was not having meals in the Great Hall anymore after their breakup. The entire school had heard about what had happened and, aside from Lavender, none of the girls were making it easy for him to be at the school. Hermione did feel a little bad for manipulating events so that she could break up with Ron without her looking like the villain, but at the end of the day she could live with it. Ironically she had Ginny to thank for the inspiration for her plan. After Daphne had come to the Gryffindor table and told Harry that she thought it was fascinating that she was present to witness Lavender kiss Harry, it did not take Hermione all that long to come up with a list of individuals who might pull a stunt like that. There were only two individuals on her list and both of them in Gryffindor: Ginny Weasley and Romilda Vane. Hermione hoped that it was Romilda Vane up her old tricks again, but after Hermione talked with Daphne one evening, Hermione was convinced that Ginny was the culprit.

It was shortly after Lavender had pleaded on Ron's behalf for Hermione to forgive Ron and get back together with him, Hermione had invited Daphne up to the Head Girl's room so they could talk. The fact that Ron was willing to sell out Harry to Lavender disturbed Hermione greatly and it made Hermione reflect on her relationship with Ron. She came to the conclusion that Ron never really appreciated their relationship. His insensitive comment about Harry seeming to get all the girls while he was only stuck with Hermione was evidence of that. Perhaps Tracey Davis was right; she was an utter moron for wanting to date Ron. Hermione had given up on Harry a when he started dating Ginny because the noble side of her could not betray her friend. However, Ginny's "friend" status changed after Hermione's chat with Daphne.

Hermione had been investigating Romilda Vane quietly to see if she was up to anything but Hermione was unable to come up with anything. So Hermione figured that if she talked to Daphne, she might get a better idea of what was going on. She could do it under the guise of her Head Girl's duties to investigate any attacks on students and Daphne having her memory altered would qualify.

"I'm surprised that you've invited me up here," Daphne said when the two girls arrived at the Head Girl's room.

"As Head Girl, I've been investigating the attack on you," Hermione explained. "I thought it'd be helpful if I talked to you directly."

Daphne smiled at her. "I'm surprised that you're giving a lot of attention to this but, like you, I'd love to figure out who stunned me and altered my memories."

"I think we should start with who you think would want to do such a thing to you and why," Hermione said.

"Oh that's easy," Daphne replied nonchalantly. "Unless it was Lavender herself, which I doubt because she doesn't have the intelligence to execute such an elaborate plan, I would suspect either Ginny or Susan Bones."

Hermione looked at Daphne with a raised eyebrow. "Susan? Why would she want to attack you?"

"Why? Because of Harry of course," Daphne stated. "Your friend is the most fanciful man in the wizarding world at the moment, wouldn't you agree?"

Hermione readily agreed. She had known that Harry was fanciful for a while now and had even told him that much before. It was an obvious motive and Hermione herself was also guilty of attempting to sabotage Harry's potential relationship with Hannah earlier in the year when she discretely sent a chair in Madam Rosmerta's path, tripping her. Why she did that, she had no idea. Perhaps it was Tracey Davis' fault for giving Hermione a glimmer of hope that she might have a chance with Harry. But that hope had been dashed to pieces when she remembered she was dating Ron.

"I had no idea that Susan was interested in Harry," Hermione commented. "How did you find that out?"

"She told me," Daphne replied vaguely.

That revelation surprised Hermione and she made a mental note to talk to Susan later about her best friend. In the meantime, Hermione could cross Romilda Vane off of her list because Ginny was the likely suspect here. Hermione knew that her friend had been very jealous of Harry's growing relationship with Daphne and, although Hermione also did not approve either, Harry should be free to choose who he wanted to date.

"I think that's all of the questions I have for you," Hermione said.

"That's all? You haven't asked me about Ginny yet," Daphne pointed out.

"I don't need to because I think Ginny is the likely suspect," Hermione stated.

"Mind filling me in on the details?" Daphne asked.

Hermione sighed. She did not want to tell Daphne of Ginny's previous requests to help her get back together with Harry so Hermione merely replied that Ginny had expressed strong disapproval of Harry going on a date with Daphne.

"And you? Would you approve if Harry were to go out with me?" Daphne asked.

Hermione saw that Daphne was filled with anxiety and a bit of dread. Was her opinion that important?

"Why do you care if I approve?" Hermione asked, attempting to probe where Daphne might be going with this.

"Because you and Harry are best friends," Daphne said. "You've been through so much together and I think that you come as a packaged deal. He values your opinion and any girl who wants to date Harry must be able to deal with you."

Hermione had never thought of it that way but she also wanted Harry to be happy and everything she had done up to this point had been with that goal in mind, even if it meant giving up her own happiness.

"So why do you want to date Harry?" Hermione asked after thinking for a moment.

Hermione saw Daphne begin to blush as the girl went into her explanation.

"I don't think I had ever intended to fall for him, at least initially" Daphne began. "But I've come to care for him lately. I enjoy spending time with him and he's shown that he's a very caring person because he was willing to protect my younger sister Astoria from Malfoy. I think he's very deserving of love and I'd like to be the one to give that to him."

Hermione studied Daphne for a while. The girl sounded sincere if the longing look in her eyes was any indication.

"Can I ask you a question?" Daphne said when Hermione remained silent for several moments.

"Sure."

"Why is it that you never went after Harry yourself? I mean you get along with him far better than you do with Weasel."

Hermione sighed sadly. "Oh I don't know….Harry never thought of me as someone he'd date. In between him going for Ginny in our sixth year and Ron telling me that Harry only thought of me as a sister, I gave up. After the war, I suppose that I thought it would be great if I was with Ron and Harry went back to Ginny because then we could all be one big happy family like Harry had always wanted. It really confused me when he didn't get back together with Ginny."

Daphne seemed to be deep in thought and it was a while before the girl spoke again.

"What if I offered you another chance at Harry?" Daphne asked. "I think that Harry still deserves to be happy and I think that you can do better than Weasel."

Hermione could only stare at Daphne with an open mouth and this caused Daphne to burst out laughing.

"But what about you?" Hermione asked when she had gathered herself again. "You like him too!"

Daphne flashed a mischievous grin at her. "Ah ha! I knew that you loved him! Hermione, I told you earlier that any girl who dated Harry would also have to deal with you. That means that said girl would have to share him with you. Most girls couldn't live with that, but I think I can. The question is whether you're willing to share him with me."

A lifting feeling of hope filled Hermione. Here was a chance that she might never be presented with again. Sure she would have to share Harry with Daphne but perhaps it was not too bad. Ron had definitely crossed the line when he threw Harry under the bus with Lavender and that was something that Hermione could not really forgive. After all, Harry was the most important person in her life. As for Ginny, Hermione thought that the girl had improved over the past month but the fact that Ginny was willing to go to great lengths to ensure that Harry ended up with her was disconcerting. For Hermione, the choice was not difficult.

And so the girls agreed to work together to get Harry for themselves. Daphne just had one caveat: that they would never forget about Tracey Davis if they were successful in obtaining Harry. The first order of business was to deal with Lavender Brown and Ron Weasley. The former needed to be taught not to mess around with Harry's relationships and Hermione needed an excuse to never get back together with Ron again. They would save Ginny for last.

The plan was simple. Hermione knew that Harry did have feelings for Daphne because she had talked to him about it. Lavender's revelation that Ron had traded a date with Harry in exchange for Lavender's help to get back with Hermione provided an excellent opportunity to take care of both problems. Therefore, Hermione would get back together with Ron and she would also convince Harry to go on a date with Lavender. On the day of said date, Daphne would show up and kiss Harry in front of Lavender. With any luck, Harry would drop his date with Lavender.

The next part of the plan had involved Hermione borrowing Harry's invisibility cloak. Daphne was amazed that Harry even had one because they were rare. Hermione would sit in the Gryffindor common room with Ron and put him to work – and she would make him work indeed. If the first part of their plan worked, Lavender would come back to the common room. Hermione would then give Ron enough work to keep him occupied for a while and excuse herself to go to the library. Once outside the common room, she would put on the cloak, reenter the common room, and wait for Lavender to come back down. With Ron there Lavender would likely talk to him about her date with Harry. Since the date with Harry would be a failure, Ron would probably offer the girl something else. At that point Hermione would cast a confundus charm on Lavender and direct her to kiss Ron. Then Hermione would reappear, hopefully without anyone noticing, and promptly break up with Ron.

"Everything all right there?"

Hermione was drawn out of her reminiscing at the sound of Daphne's voice and she nodded. "Mrs. Weasley is asking Harry and me to come to the Burrow for Christmas."

"Are you going to go?" Daphne asked.

"Of course not," Hermione scoffed. "I want nothing to do with Ron anymore."

Daphne grinned. "Is Harry going?"

"As much as Harry is mad at Ron for 'cheating' on me with Lavender, he's on good enough terms with Ginny and the rest of the Weasley family so I doubt he'll refuse," Hermione said.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll probably go spend Christmas with my parents," Hermione said, gathering her things for her next class.

Daphne also gathered her books and the two girls walked together to their Charms class.

* * *

On their way to class, Susan Bones caught up with them.

"Hello Hermione," Susan said with a smile. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine Susan, how about you?"

"I'm great, say...what are you and Harry doing on New Year's eve?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have anything planned, why?"

"I was hoping that you'd both be able to join me here at the school on New Year's," Susan replied. "You know I don't have any family left so I thought it'd be great to spend it with some friends."

Hermione thought about the scenario a little. If Daphne was correct and Susan did like Harry then she was using the opportunity to try to get closer to Harry. But, at the same time, Susan did lose all of her family members during the war and Hermione thought it would be a good gesture to keep the girl company.

"Sounds good, I'll ask Harry about it," Hermione replied eventually.

"Great!" Susan said. "I'll owl you the details later."

As Susan walked away, Daphne turned to Hermione. "She may be using this to try to get to Harry."

Hermione smirked at Daphne. "That may be true but I think the two of us are more than enough to handle her."

* * *

As it turned out Harry was very receptive to the idea of spending New Year's eve at Hogwarts with Hermione, Daphne, and Susan. However, much to Hermione's disappointment, he was going spend Christmas at the Burrow with the Weasleys because the entire family should not receive the cold shoulder for Ron's stupidity. The day before Christmas, Hermione and Daphne were having dinner in the Great Hall when Harry came to say goodbye to them.

"Hello ladies," Harry said, grinning at them. "I just came by to say goodbye. I'll see you both before the New Year ok?"

Hermione returned his smile and stood up to give him a hug. "Now Harry just have fun while you're there and don't be too hard on Ron. I expect he'll still be upset about the whole situation."

"All right, I promise," Harry said, but Hermione could still see some concern written on his face. "But aren't you upset about the whole thing too?"

"No, I think that Ron and I weren't as suited for each other as I think some other boy is," Hermione replied, smiling coyly at Harry.

"Oh?" Harry asked, confused by his friend's actions. "And who would that be?"

"I'll leave that to you to figure out," Hermione told him. "Now say goodbye to Daphne and be on your way."

Hermione gave Harry a hug but she also decided to give him a kiss as close to his lips as she dared.

As for Daphne, instead of giving Harry a hug, she kissed him full on his lips.

"Something for you to keep in mind during Christmas," Daphne said with a smirk. "Maybe we can do more when you get back..lover."

Harry and Hermione could only gawk at Daphne's blatant flirting but Hermione decided to let it go. "Don't mind her...now on your way Harry and come back soon."

* * *

Christmas at the school could not have passed quickly enough for Hermione. She did find Daphne and Tracey Davis to be great company, but she found herself missing Harry and expressed that much to her Slytherin friends. Daphne and Tracey teased her to no end about it but Daphne agreed that she could not wait for Harry to return either.

When Christmas was over, Hermione busied herself helping Susan with whatever preparations the Hufflepuff had in mind for New Year's Eve. Apparently Susan had gone to Headmistress McGonagall and received permission to set up their party in the Great Hall. Hermione thought it was a good way to start a new year because the war was over and everyone could have a normal life again.

Harry returned to the school as he had promised on New Year's eve and was swarmed by Hermione, Daphne, and, to his surprise, Susan. Each of the girls gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. By the end, Hermione thought that they had given him a heart attack from emotional overload because the boy was too shocked by the greeting that he had to sit down for a bit. When he had recovered, Hermione took him aside and questioned him about his time at the Burrow. Harry told her that it was a pleasant trip even though Ron had pestered him a little to help him make things right. Instead of agreeing, Harry gave him back his book on Twelve Ways to Woo Witches in front of Ginny and told him that since that was how he originally got Hermione, he should try it again and see if it worked. Ginny was mad that Ron had used a book to get Hermione that she had cast one of her famed bat bogey hexes on her brother. Harry also mentioned that Mrs. Weasley was disappointed that Hermione had broken up with Ron, but she also pressured Harry to get back with Ginny. He supposed he had Hermione and Daphne on his mind at the time because, although he was able to have a good time with Ginny at the Burrow, he found that he wanted to be back at Hogwarts with them. The last statement made Hermione blush but she replied that she was glad that he was back with her and would make sure that he had a good time at the party later.

Hermione spent the rest of the day getting ready for the New Year's eve party. To her, everything had to perfect, just for Harry. Daphne was of some help, especially with making Hermione's bushy hair more manageable.

"I don't think he'll know what hit him," Daphne commented when the girls were done with their preparations."Now time to go show ourselves off."

* * *

When the two girls arrived in the Great Hall, they found Harry talking with Susan. They decided to go say hello and, if Harry's facial expression was any indication, Hermione felt that the time they spent getting ready for the night was well worth it.

"So how about a dance with Hermione?" Daphne asked once Harry had finished taking in the sight of the two girls. "She's been anxious for you to return, y'know."

Harry looked at her to verify Daphne's statement. This caused Hermione to blush but she nodded.

"Sorry ladies, but Harry's already promised me a dance," Susan interrupted. "I'll try to return him intact though."

"Unfortunately I did promise Susan," Harry said. "Can't say that I'm a wonderful dancer, but I promise that you'll get the next one ok Hermione?"

Susan pulled Harry onto the dance floor, leaving Hermione and Daphne standing there by themselves.

"Well I guess Susan's putting up a better fight than I thought," Daphne commented next to her.

"I suppose," Hermione said, the gears in her head turning. "But as long as we monopolize Harry's time, Susan isn't going to stand a chance."

"I like your thinking Granger," Daphne replied with a smirk. "You and I are going to make sure that Harry has a fun time and that no other girl can steal him away from us!"

The two girls took a seat and chatted idly for a bit while Harry was dancing with Susan. A few boys who were left at the school did come by to ask Hermione to dance but she declined each time, preferring to wait for Harry.

"How come no one's asked you to dance?" Hermione asked, a little confused as to why Daphne was not asked to dance. "You're clearly better looking than I am."

Daphne laughed at the comment. "The boys have been asking you to dance because they think you're beautiful. I think they're avoiding me because of my reputation as the school's ice queen...now I think Harry's done dancing with Susan so go get that dance he owes you."

Hermione looked up and saw Harry approaching them. He held out a hand for Hermione to take and she allowed herself to be taken onto the dance floor.

"Now Harry, don't forget that you owe me the next song," Susan said in passing as she went off to grab a drink.

"What about me?" Daphne pouted. "Don't I get to dance with you too?"

Harry glanced at Hermione as if asking for approval and she gave it willingly, commenting that if they had their way, he would never be able to get rid of either of them. This brought a huge grin to the boy's face and off they went to the dance floor.

As Hermione danced with Harry, she allowed herself to indulge in the closeness. She had insisted that he join her and Ron for meals in the Great Hall when she found out that he was training at Hogwarts because she did not want her friendship with him to dwindle. The boy had declined to join her for lunch up until her recent breakup with Ron and part of her wondered why even though she thought she had an inkling as to what the response might be.

After Hermione's dance with Harry was over, Susan once again dragged the boy onto the dance floor.

"How was the dance?" Daphne asked when Hermione returned.

"He's improved a little," Hermione replied, remembering that Harry's dancing experience at the Yule Ball in their Fourth Year. "At least he didn't step on my feet."

The girls shared a laugh over Hermione's comment. The rest of the evening seemed to be spent vying for Harry's attention for as soon as either Hermione or Daphne stopped dancing with Harry, Susan would come along and snap him up. Eventually the boy had enough and wanted a rest. Consequently, the four of them were currently seated at one of the tables.

"Harry?" Hermione heard Susan say.

"Yes?"

"You know it's a tradition to kiss the person next to you to bring in the New Year's right?" Susan asked, scooting closer to the boy.

"No, why?"

In the background, Hermione could hear that some of the students were beginning a countdown to midnight and she exchanged a panicked look with Daphne. The two girls knew exactly what Susan was going to do and neither of them were pleased with it.

"Because it's nearly midnight and if you don't, the rest of the year is supposed to be filled with coldness," Susan replied, placing one hand on Harry's chest.

"Susan I think that's - " Harry started to say before he was cut off by a kiss from Susan.

Hermione wanted to scream aloud but she knew it would do nothing. Fortunately for her, Harry quickly pushed Susan away as gently as he could.

"I'm sorry Susan, but I think that the only girl for me happens to be nearby and I wouldn't mind sharing a kiss with her. That is if she'll allow me," Harry said.

When Hermione looked at Harry again, she saw that he was looking in her direction and it surprised her and thrilled her at the same time.

"So I take it that means you wouldn't want to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" Susan asked once she realized where Harry was looking.

"Sorry Susan," Harry replied. "I do hope you find someone though. At least you won't have a year filled with coldness."

Susan shook her head and smiled at Harry. "You have nothing to apologize for. As long as Hermione's in the picture, I don't think that any girl is going to have a shot at you unless they were willing to share you with her. I doubt that I could."

With a "Happy New Year" to the three of them, Susan turned and went to mingle with the other students.

"I figured it out while I was at the Burrow," Harry said. "That other boy...it's me isn't it?"

"Of course it is you daft git," Hermione cried, slapping Harry playfully on his arm.

"So how about that kiss then?" Harry asked, nervousness evident in his voice.

Hermione glanced briefly at Daphne and noticed that the Slytherin girl looked a little sad. Hermione knew it was because the girl was afraid that she would be forgotten. As much as Hermione could abandon Daphne, the girl had done her a favor. Without Daphne pushing her in the right direction, Hermione may not have ever found the courage to fight for Harry's affections, much less find a way out of her relationship with Ron, permanently.

"All right, but only if you kiss Daphne too," Hermione said finally. "I told you earlier that if we had our way, you wouldn't be able to get rid of either of us. Now you're going to give each of us a kiss or face our wrath."

Harry was speechless for a moment before he burst out laughing. Hermione wanted to slap the boy because she didn't know what was so funny. However, Harry stopped her from doing anything so drastic by scooping her up in his arms and kissing her.

The kiss created a feeling of true bliss within Hermione and she found herself having trouble standing. When it was over, Hermione sat down again feeling a little lightheaded from the euphoria. She seemed to vaguely register Harry also kissing Daphne next to her, but she didn't mind. Not when Harry had just kissed her.

Hermione couldn't think of any better way to begin a new year. She shared her first kiss with the boy she loved and she found a true friend in Daphne. Life was wonderful.

* * *

A/N: So Susan's down and now Hermione's in the mix. It may be a while before I update again but at least I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger. Feedback, as always, is appreciated. Thanks!


	8. Final Round: Daphne & Hermione vs Ginny

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 8: Final Round: Daphne & Hermione vs. Ginny **

A few days before classes were to resume, Hermione and Daphne were sitting in the Head Girl's common room reading for their classes. Or at least Hermione was. Daphne was lying on the sofa staring up at the ceiling. Shortly after she and Hermione got together with Harry, the boy had surprised them with a dinner for three in the Room of Requirement. It was a nice gesture and Daphne had thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the company. Of course, now that classes were resuming, they would definitely have to deal with the youngest Weasley. When the redhead returned from the holidays it would not take long for her to figure out that Daphne and Hermione had snagged Harry for themselves. The question was how to eliminate her last competitor without alerting Hermione, or Harry for that matter, to the fact that several girls in the castle had made a contest over trying to win Harry's affections.

"You've been staring up at the ceiling for a while," Hermione commented, looking up from her book. "Given up on reading?"

"No," Daphne replied, turning so that her entire body was now facing Hermione. "I was just thinking about a certain redhead and how much trouble she'll stir up just to get a shot at Harry."

Hermione smiled knowingly at her companion. "I wouldn't be surprised if she tried, but we're not about to let her take him away from us, are we?"

Daphne was rendered speechless temporarily and only a laugh from Hermione brought her out of her confusion.

"No comment?" Hermione said, her smile broadening. "That's unusual for you Daphne."

"No, I didn't expect you to side with me," Daphne said.

"Yeah well, let's just say I have a different agenda," said Hermione with a smirk. "My priority is and has always been Harry. Did you think that's going to change now?"

"No, I don't suppose it would. I take it you have a plan?" Daphne asked.

The devious look on Hermione's face was the only reply Daphne required.

* * *

When Ginny returned to Hogwarts, she was very alarmed by all the rumors that were flying around the school. About half the rumors indicated that Harry and Hermione were dating while the other half indicated that Harry was dating Daphne. The former was not a new rumor and Ginny knew that it had to be false since Hermione would never betray her. The latter, however, disturbed Ginny greatly.

It was unfortunate for her when Harry left the Burrow for the New Year because that meant that she could no longer monopolize him. Ginny felt she was making some progress with him because they were able to discuss things like Quidditch or what Ginny planned to do after graduation. There were even times where she could also initiate physical contact and not have Harry attempt to run away. Her mother had refused to let her go to the New Year's party at Hogwarts because "she should be with family during the holidays." Her mother was adamant about having Harry stay at the Burrow because she wanted Harry to start dating Ginny again but Ron's stupidity put an end to her mother's requests.

Ever since Hermione had caught Ron kissing Lavender in the common room, Ron's friendship with Harry was very strained at its best. Pestering Harry for assistance in getting back with Hermione was not helpful either. Although the youngest Weasley siblings had agreed to keep the fact that Ron and Hermione were no longer dating away from their mother until Ron could patch things up with Hermione, their mother realized something was wrong the moment they left the two boys in the same room. The tenseness in the room elevated to a degree that was definitely unusual for two people who were supposed to be good friends. Then there was the incident where Harry had given Ron back his book on Twelve Ways to Woo Witches. Ginny was so infuriated that her brother would use such a book on Hermione that she hexed him with her trademark bat bogey hex. The incident also prompted questioning from her mother and eventually Ron caved in, admitting that Hermione saw Lavender kissing him. Molly Weasley was furious. Ron denied that he was a willing participant, but the Weasley Matriarch would have none of it. It was because of Ron that her mother stopped trying to convince Harry to stay at the Burrow for New Year's.

Ginny had hoped that Susan would keep Daphne distracted until she returned to Hogwarts but if her list was any indication, it was clear that the redheaded Hufflepuff had lost the battle. It was now down to Daphne and her. This was not a battle that Ginny was going to lose, not if her plan succeeded. But first she needed to track down Hermione and pump her for information.

Ginny found Hermione in the library at her usual place and took a seat next to the bushy haired brunette.

"Mind if I join you?" Ginny asked.

"Sure," Hermione replied, motioning to an empty seat next to her.

"So how was your winter holiday?" Ginny asked. "Did you enjoy the New Year's party?"

Hermione nodded with a bright smile on her face. "It was a lot of fun. Susan knows how to throw a party."

"Did Harry have fun?" Ginny asked.

Hermione's smile grew even brighter, if that was even possible to Ginny. "He did. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him that happy since the end of the war."

"So I hear that he and Daphne are together now?" Ginny asked.

"Yes they are," Hermione replied.

Ginny scowled at the confirmation of the rumor, but she was not disheartened. Perhaps Hermione would help her break them up.

"Do you think they'll last?" Ginny asked with a hopeful look.

Hermione smirked. "Not if we have anything to say about it."

Hermione's response surprised Ginny but any help that she could get would be welcome.

"So what should we do?" Ginny asked.

"Leave that to me," Hermione replied. "Just come with me the next time we go to Hogsmeade."

* * *

When the next Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, Ginny met Hermione at the front of the castle where the carriages would take them to their destination. As she and Hermione entered one of the carriages, Ginny noticed Harry and Daphne get into one of the carriages ahead of them. The two were probably on another date, Ginny thought angrily, but those dates would be no more if Hermione's plan worked.

Hermione's plan involved them going to the Three Broomsticks where Harry and Daphne were going on a lunch date and basically interrupting it. Hermione had mentioned that Cho had become jealous after Harry had wanted to meet with Hermione when the two had gone on a date. The interruption would likely force Harry to choose between Hermione and Daphne. And if it came down to that, Ginny would be willing to bet that Harry would side with Hermione.

But, just in case that didn't work, Ginny had a backup plan that would break up Daphne and Harry. It was a variation of her earlier plan to sabotage what would have been Daphne first date with Harry. Before she left the Burrow, she made sure to stock up on some Wizarding Wheezes products, specifically love potions and some patented daydream charms. Although she could not use the love potions on Harry, there was no rule prohibiting someone else from administering the potion to Harry. According to the instructions, Harry would be under the effects for approximately 24 hours depending on the attractiveness of the girl, but that was all the time that Ginny required. She just needed someone to administer the potion and make sure that it could not be traced to her. The perfect person was right in front of her. Harry trusted Hermione and would drink anything she gave him. Ginny even managed to key the potion to Hermione. Since the potion would not last much longer than 24 hours, it was the perfect way of ensuring that Daphne broke up with Harry while not alerting anyone to Ginny's tampering.

At the Three Broomsticks, Daphne Greengrass was enjoying her lunch date with Harry. Daphne was animatedly telling Harry about a prank that Tracey had played on Malfoy in their potions class earlier that week. Tracey had melted down the half of a Weasley Wheezes Nosebleed Nougat that would cause nosebleeds and poured that into Malfoy's cauldron when he wasn't looking. The effect was a massive nosebleed for Malfoy when Slughorn instructed him to drink the potion to test its effects. The entire class had burst out in laughter when Malfoy ended up fainting from blood loss before he could get out the door, resulting in a bump on his head when fell to the floor.

Daphne smiled back at Harry as he laughed when she finished the story. She was glad that she could have that effect on the boy, especially after all that he had gone through. Hermione had filled her in on some of the abuses Harry suffered at the hands of the Dursleys, which made Daphne was even more amazed that Harry had turned out the way he did.

Daphne glanced briefly at the door before turning back to her meal and listening to Harry. Hermione had told her that she and Ginny would be interrupting their date. The plan was simple. Hermione and Daphne would basically monopolize Harry so that Ginny could not get in a word, thus essentially pitting Ginny against Hermione. Given Ginny's temper, Ginny would probably get frustrated that Harry was cutting her out and force him to pick between her and Hermione. And both girls knew that Harry would never side with Ginny against Hermione.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked. "You keep glancing at the door, are we expecting company?"

Daphne nodded. "I asked Hermione and Ginny to join us for lunch, I hope you don't mind."

Harry gave her a perplexed look. "I can understand why you'd invite Hermione but why Ginny? Aren't we on a date?"

"We are," Daphne replied. "I just thought that Ginny would be more inclined to leave us alone if she saw how close we'd become."

Harry burst into laughter at her statement, causing Daphne to glare at her boyfriend.

"Ginny's had her eyes on me ever since I started at Hogwarts."

"Yes and you had a year of stupidity when you decided to date her during sixth year," Daphne said sarcastically.

"Mmm, sassy today aren't we?" Harry said with a smirk.

"Today and every day," Daphne replied, leaning in to give Harry a kiss.

"Fortunately, Ginny isn't here to ruin this moment. I'm glad I came to my senses and broke up with her," Harry said before kissing Daphne.

* * *

Hermione and Ginny walked into the Three Broomsticks just in time to see Harry and Daphne kiss. Hermione noted that Ginny was seething with jealousy, bringing a sly smile to the brunette's face. This would be good and she could not wait to see how it turned out. Like her brother, Ginny was a hothead; it was a trait that Hermione was counting on to affect the redhead's judgment.

Hermione led the way to the table where Harry and Daphne were sitting. It would not do to let Ginny sit next to Harry so Hermione took that seat, leaving an irate Ginny to sit next to Daphne.

Harry gave Hermione a hug as soon as she sat down beside him and looked as if he were going to give her a kiss too but Daphne quickly put an end to that by kicking him under the table.

"Ow!" Harry cried as he quickly withdrew his arms from around Hermione and began to rub his shin with a free hand.

"Just making sure that you're paying attention to your girlfriend," Daphne said with a smirk.

"Jealous much?" Hermione commented off-handedly.

"Only when it comes to my boyfriend," Daphne replied playfully.

"And I'm his best friend," Hermione retorted with equal mirth. "I don't think he'd ever want to choose between us."

Ginny could not believe her eyes. The two girls were getting along? This was not supposed to happen. It was time to move on to plan B. Calling Madam Rosmerta over, Ginny ordered butterbeers for the table and one firewhiskey for Harry. Ordering firewhiskey for Harry caused Madam Rosmerta to pause for a moment, but since she knew that Harry was over seventeen, she was willing to bring some over.

"I thought we were sharing?" Harry asked with some confusion.

"We are," Daphne replied. "I just think that Hermione needed to be reminded of where she stands."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said challengingly. Harry agreed readily and looked to Daphne for an explanation.

"It means that Hermione's just jealous, Harry," Daphne explained as if it were obvious to everyone at the table.

"WHAT!" Hermione screeched, causing Harry to cringe next to her. "Why would I ever be jealous of you? You're the one who's jealous of my relationship with him!"

Madam Rosmerta returned with the drinks that Ginny ordered and placed them on the table. Ginny subtly slipped some of the love potion into the firewhiskey and placed the drink in front of Hermione.

Daphne looked angry now. She stood up quickly as if making to confront Hermione. While she was at it, she intentionally elbowed Ginny in the side, knocking the redhead off the bench next to her.

Ginny was not expecting to get knocked to the ground, but her mission was accomplished. If everything went well, Hermione would drink the firewhiskey, spit it out, and hand it to Harry to drink. She retook her seat next to Daphne and was anxious to see what the results of her plan would be.

"All right, let's all calm down," Harry said, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "We don't need to make a scene."

"You're absolutely right Harry," Hermione said, glaring up at Daphne. "I don't know what came over us, isn't that right Daphne?"

Daphne returned Hermione's glare with equal intensity but sat back down. "You're right dear, now be a good girl and order something."

"Actually, I've already ordered drinks for all of you," Ginny said, pointing to the drinks in front of them.

"How nice Weasley," Daphne drawled. "Did you spike my drink?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Ginny replied insincerely.

"Might as well check anyway," Daphne said with a sigh and drew her wand. She cast a detection spell on her mug only to frown when it returned nothing.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Ginny said sarcastically.

"Considering how idiotic your brother is, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me," Daphne retorted.

While watching the exchange, Hermione reached for the mug with the firewhiskey and sipped on it. Realizing that it was firewhiskey and not butterbeer, Hermione spit out the beverage in disgust.

"Bad butterbeer?" Harry asked her.

"No, this isn't butterbeer at all, it's firewhiskey," Hermione said. "Ginny, why'd you order firewhiskey for me?"

"I did?" Ginny replied as innocently as she could. "I think that is Harry's drink."

"But he doesn't drink firewhiskey," Hermione commented while regarding Ginny with suspicion.

"I'll drink a little bit of it," Harry said with a shrug. "I should still be okay if I don't finish it off."

Hermione looked at her friend in surprise but placed the mug in front of Harry.

Ginny was now trying very hard to contain her excitement. In a few moments her plan would succeed and Daphne's relationship with Harry would be no more.

"On second thought, I think I'll keep the firewhiskey," Hermione said, snatching it from Harry's hands. "Stick with the butterbeer Harry. We don't need you getting drunk before you return to training."

Daphne seemed to catch on to what Hermione was doing. "Yes dear, you should do what Hermione says. It'll be good for your health in your long run."

Hermione then began drinking the firewhiskey in front of a protesting Harry and a wide-mouthed Daphne and Ginny.

Ginny could not believe it. In the span of less than a minute, her plan had gone to hell. Hermione drinking the spiked firewhiskey should not have any effect on her since it was already keyed to herself. Would it make Hermione attracted to herself for 24 hours? Ginny didn't want to think about what that meant.

"Wow, is it hot in here?" Hermione said suddenly, putting down her mug that had been drained a quarter of the way. Hermione then began to remove her robe.

"Uh, Hermione," said a concerned Harry. "Are you all right? You're turning red."

"I've never felt better!" Hermione giggled, but Daphne could tell that Hermione was really affected by the firewhiskey. "This is some good stuff!"

Hermione then took a long drink from the mug of firewhiskey while her friends looked on in shock.

"I think that's enough," said a concerned Harry, taking the firewhiskey away from Hermione. "Before you end up doing something silly."

Hermione giggled again and began playing with the buttons on her blouse. When she began to unbutton her blouse, Harry quickly grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Why are you stopping me? It's hot in here and aren't I good looking Harry?" Hermione said, giving her friend a sultry look and wrapping her arms around his middle.

Harry looked down nervously at her and attempted to gently pry Hermione off of himself, but Hermione refused to budge.

"I'm not letting you go Harry," Hermione muttered somewhat drunkenly to him. "Not until you answer the question."

Daphne merely smirked when Harry looked to her for help, while Ginny was worried as to what Harry's answer would be.

Seeing that neither of the girls would be of help to him, Harry took a deep breath and said, "Hermione, I think you're very good looking, if not one of the best looking girls in the school."

Hermione smiled in response, cupped Harry's face in both of her hands and kissed the boy gently on the lips. Daphne looked to see Ginny's reaction and was pleased to see a horrified look on the redhead's face.

When it registered in her mind that Hermione had just kissed Harry, Ginny let out an anguished cry.

Hermione and Harry were drawn out of their kiss by Ginny's cry and they regarded her with caution since they had no idea how she would react. Meanwhile, Daphne fingered her wand in case Ginny attempted to curse Hermione.

Ginny scowled in jealousy but she could do nothing at this point. Hermione was probably under the influence of the love potion, she thought. She would have to come up with a different plan next time.

Daphne was the first one to say something. "Something wrong Weasley?"

"N – No," Ginny managed to stammer out after the surprising kiss that just took place in front of her. Until she remembered that Daphne was dating Harry. That brought a smile to her face.

"Hah! I knew you were just using Harry for your own purposes Greengrass," Ginny said triumphantly. "Aren't you supposed to be upset because another girl just kissed your boyfriend? You aren't, are you? That just goes to show that you don't care much about the relationship."

"I don't see what the problem is," Harry said in response to Ginny's accusation. "Hermione and I are dating after all."

"WHAT!" Ginny shrieked, causing Daphne to wince next to her. "How is that possible!"

"You of all people should know that Hermione has always been first in his life and vice versa," Daphne told Ginny.

"And what about you?" Ginny said sharply to Daphne. "How can you both be dating him?"

"Oh but we are," Daphne said with a wide grin on her face. "Harry did resist at first, but we showed him the error of his ways."

"I don't believe this," Ginny said angrily. "We were supposed to be one big happy family! Hermione was supposed to be with Ron, but my idiot brother made a right mess of that one. And Harry was supposed to get back together with me!"

With that, Ginny stood up and stormed out of the Three Broomsticks.

"I think she took that rather well," Daphne deadpanned.

Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione. "A year ago I might have cared but after what happened with Ron, I stopped caring."

"I don't think she'll give up," Hermione pointed out. "She's had the idea of being with Harry drilled into her head since she was little."

"Then we'll just have to be prepared," Daphne replied.

"Whatever happens, you two will never lose me," Harry told them. "I would never ever date Ginerva Weasley, or anyone else for that matter."

"That will get you a kiss from each of us," Hermione said before doing exactly that. "Now how about we enjoy the rest of our lunch?"

"That sounds brilliant," Harry replied.

* * *

When Ginny returned to her dorm, she went immediately to the drawer where she kept the parchment listing all of the contestants. To her surprise and disappointment, all she saw was a pile of ashes where the parchment should have been. She had lost. Nothing had gone her way. Hermione had betrayed her and Daphne had actually won the contest.

However, if she could not have Harry, nobody would. If she could somehow tell Hermione about the fact that the girls had a contest over Harry's affections, Hermione just might turn on Daphne. And if she were able to plant a fake list of contestants with Hermione's name on it in a place where Harry would find it, he would dump Hermione. Then he just might come running to her. After all, the oath they took did not prevent the contestants from telling non-participants in writing about the competition; it only prevented them from talking about it.

The plan brought a smile to Ginny's face. She could go apologize to Hermione for her actions earlier today and then plant the lists in Hermione's common room.

Later that evening, Ginny went to Hermione's door and knocked. When she was permitted entry, Ginny put on her best apologetic facial expression and entered the room.

"Hermione? Do you have a moment?"

"What do you want Ginny?" Hermione asked. Ginny noted that Hermione's hand had gone immediately to her wand sitting on the table in front of her.

"I just wanted to apologize to you for my actions earlier today. I was out of line and I'm sorry," Ginny said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Apology accepted, but I think you'll also have to apologize to Daphne and Harry," Hermione said.

"Oh but I will! Do you have any suggestions on how I should go about it?" Ginny said as she stuffed the fake list she made in between the seat cushions of the couch.

"No," Hermione replied. "If you're really sincere about your apology, you'll find a way."

"Thank you Hermione," Ginny said as she stood up. "I won't let you down."

With that, Hermione saw Ginny out the door and, as the door closed behind her, Ginny grinned evilly to herself. Phase one was complete. It was time to move on to the next part of her plan.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione and Daphne were having breakfast with Harry in the Great Hall when the mail owls began to swoop down on the castle's inhabitants. Hermione was reading a letter from her parents when a burst of pumpkin juice came sputtering out of Harry's mouth and onto her letter.

"Something wrong dear?" Daphne asked.

"You could say that," Harry said, giving them both an unusually harsh look. "Would you two care to explain this?"

Harry handed Hermione two pieces of parchment. The first was a list which read:

**_Contestants:_**

_Daphne Greengrass_

_Tracey Davis_

_Hermione Granger_

_Lavender Brown_

_Susan Bones_

_Hannah Abbott_

_Padma Patil_

_Luna Lovegood_

The second was a handwritten letter which appeared to be from Hannah.

_Dear Harry_,

_I wanted to write you about this sooner but I did not have the courage to do it. But, now that I am happily dating Neville, I feel that I should apologize to you for having entered this petty contest over your affections. It was wrong and I did not want this to hanging over my conscience. The list I've enclosed is a list of all the girls who have been competing over your affections this year. We swore an oath not to talk to anyone about it, but I realized that the oath did not prevent us from writing to anyone else about it._

_I hope that you'll forgive me and know that I will always be your friend._

_Hannah_

The fact that Hermione's name was listed on the parchment was proof enough for Daphne that the list was a fake. And the most likely suspect was Ginny Weasley. Hermione apparently was of the same mind because she too looked in Ginny's direction. The redhead was looking in their direction and she had her hand in her mouth as if she were trying not to give away something.

"You know Harry," Hermione began. "I think Ginny is trying to get you to dump us. In fact, she's looking in our direction right now. No, don't look at her. It'll only make her suspicious."

"So the list is a fake?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded, pulled out another piece of parchment, and showed it to Harry. "I found this in my couch last night. I know it wasn't there before and the only people who came to visit were you and Ginny."

Daphne watched Harry's eyes scan the parchment briefly before he handed the parchment over to her. The parchment read:

**_The Future Mrs. Potter_**

_Daphne Greengrass_

_Tracey Davis_

_Lavender Brown_

_Susan Bones_

_Hannah Abbot_

_Padma Patil_

_Luna Lovegood_

"Interesting," Daphne commented. "The list is completely identical to one sent to Hermione but there is only one Gryffindor here. I think Weasley was hoping that Hermione would turn on me and that Harry would break up with both of us in anger if he thought that we were playing with his feelings."

"It does give me an idea though," Harry said thoughtfully. "But, I'll need to make a trip to the jewelry store first."

Both girls could only look to each other in confusion.

* * *

One week later, Ginny Weasley was reading for classes on her bed when she heard a tapping sound at her window. When she looked up, she saw an owl sitting outside with a parchment attached to its leg.

Ginny retrieved the parchment and saw with excitement that it was from Harry.

_My Dearest Ginny,_

_It appears I've been such a fool. It has been brought to my attention recently that Daphne Greengrass has been toying with my affections this entire time. To make it worse, so has Hermione. Hermione! Can you believe it? My best friend for the past seven years! I can't believe that they both entered some dumb competition over who would be the future Mrs. Potter. Well I won't stand for it!_

_I think it's time we resume our relationship. And just to show Daphne and Hermione that they should never mess with me, I will have a very special surprise for you at dinnertime tonight. The entire school will know that we'll be together and I think your mum would be very happy._

_Love,_

_Harry_

It worked! Her plan worked! Harry had dumped both Daphne and Hermione. What's more, Harry wanted to resume their relationship. Looking at the clock, Ginny saw that it was only two hours before dinnertime – just enough time to make herself look good for Harry.

* * *

When Ginny arrived at the Great Hall, it was packed with students and she saw Harry already sitting at the table. It had taken her longer than usual to get ready but with the Great Hall as full as it was, the entire school would know that Harry was hers. _Back off girls, he's mine! _Ginny thought to herself. He looked in her direction, smiled, and waved her over. Ginny practically ran to sit next to him.

She also noticed with glee that Daphne was sitting back at the Slytherin table with Tracey and that Hermione was sulking off to the side, picking at her food.

"Ginny!" Harry said happily, putting an arm around her shoulder. "How have you been?"

"I've never been better," she replied with equal giddiness as she leaned in to kiss Harry on the cheek. "I can't wait for this surprise of yours."

"Oh, that!" Harry said, reaching into his pocket. "I have it right here."

Ginny glanced down at Harry's pocket elatedly. However, after several moments watching Harry rummage through his pockets, Ginny's excitement turned to confusion.

"Hmm, I thought I had it here," Harry said, looking rather perplexed at the fact that his pocket was empty. "Perhaps it fell under the table. Would you be so kind as to help me look for it Ginny? It's a small ring, very valuable."

Ginny perked up at the mention of a ring. Was Harry going to propose to her or something? Her childhood dream of being Mrs. Potter would finally come true. Mum would be so happy and perhaps Harry would finally forgive her idiot brother for snogging Lavender in front of Hermione. After all, Harry was under the impression that Hermione was playing with him.

With that, Ginny dived under the table and began to look around for a small ring. It didn't take her long to find it because it had fallen next to Harry's foot. Examining it under the table, Ginny saw that it was indeed an engagement ring and she scrambled up as fast as she could.

"OH THANK YOU HARRY!" Ginny squealed loudly. The chatter in the Great Hall suddenly died down as every head was turned in her direction.

"I can't believe that on the day we get back together, you'd propose to me," Ginny said happily to a grinning Harry Potter. "Yes I accept! I'd love to be Mrs. Potter."

However, when Ginny leaned in to kiss Harry on the lips, she was shocked to find him pushing her away with both hands. Looking back at his face, she also noticed that the grin had left Harry's face and a serious expression was all that remained.

"What are you talking about?" Harry said furiously as he angrily snatched the ring from Ginny's hand. "I wasn't going to propose to you! I just asked you to help me find the engagement ring I dropped under the table. What makes you think that I'd ever date you again, much less propose to you? Ever wonder why I never asked you out again after the war was over? Your mum has been pushing me to get back together with you that I've gotten sick of it. That's why I decided to find a good girl to date – one whose mum wasn't going to dictate to me who I should be dating."

Ginny's jaw dropped at that revelation. In her periphery, she heard one person suddenly burst out laughing, then another. Soon the entire student body was laughing.

"But – but we've done so much for you! You're basically family! We – we – " Ginny could no longer continue her sentence.

"And I'm grateful for what your family has done, but fate has given me two wonderful girls and I'm not about to throw that away," Harry replied. Although she could tell that Harry was trying to sympathize with her, Ginny did not want his sympathy. If anything, it made her angry. Angry at Hermione for betraying her, angry at Daphne for stealing Harry away from her, and angry at Harry for setting her up and humiliating her like this.

"This is all her doing!" Ginny screeched as she pointed an accusing finger at Hermione who was now smirking in her direction.

"No Ginny!" Harry retorted. "It's your doing. Did you think I wouldn't figure out that it was you who sent me that letter accusing Daphne and Hermione of toying with my feelings? Daphne is a kind and wonderful girl whose wit and brilliance I could never hope to match. And Hermione has stuck by me through everything, even when your idiot brother abandoned me. Where were you then? Hermione would never abandon me. Ever. Which is why I was going to propose to Hermione this evening."

The laughter slowly changed to cheering and she could vaguely hear some students chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" in the background. A blushing but happy Hermione came into view and Ginny saw Harry take her into his arms and kiss her. Soon thereafter, an equally happy Daphne Greengrass came running up to the newly engaged Gryffindors and wrapped an arm around each of them. She gave Harry a rather passionate kiss and Ginny could have sworn that she heard the Slytherin girl whisper to the boy, "Enjoy the moment Potter. If you behave yourself, I just might have something special for you too later tonight. That kiss was just a preview. Maybe we could convince Hermione to join in?"

By then Ginny's mind had finally processed the information. And suddenly her world went black.

* * *

A/N: And the winner is Daphne (& Hermione). Any feedback would be appreciated. Sorry for the long delay. One final chapter to go.


	9. Chapter 9: Epilogue

**Battle Royale**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 9: Epilogue**: **Fifteen Years Later  
**

Hermione Potter and Daphne Greengrass were having tea on a quiet Saturday afternoon at the home of Daphne's good friend, Tracey Davis. The three women were catching up on the latest happenings in each of their lives. Much to her chagrin, Hermione had graduated second in her year, losing the top position to Daphne. The Slytherin girl gleefully rubbed it in whenever she though Hermione was being an "insufferable know-it-all." Ironically, Hermione was Daphne's superior at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where they both worked. Hermione was making a lot of progress in reversing many of the laws biased in favor of Purebloods. Daphne was of great help in that endeavor because she knew how Purebloods thought and was instrumental in convincing many of them to agree to Hermione's reforms.

As for Harry Potter, he was the current head of the Auror department. The fact that Hermione and Daphne, his wife and concubine respectively, worked on the same floor made work pleasant on most days. Of course if they were mad at him, his work day was miserable and he would find himself sleeping on the couch.

On her part, Daphne kept her promise to never forget about her friend Tracey. In fact, that was why the three of them had tea together every week. In return, Tracey would often help babysit the Potters' four children, all of whom were attending Hogwarts at the moment.

"So how are things with Roger?" Daphne asked Tracey with a mischievous smirk on her face.

"He's doing well," Tracey replied. "Ironic that I would end up dating a Ravenclaw."

"Nothing wrong with that at all," Daphne replied. "After all, I am with a Gryffindor. One who has a silly habit of trying to save the world. Besides, would you have preferred to end up with someone like Goyle?"

Tracey shuddered at the thought. "Merlin, no. Who knows what would happen if we ever had kids."

"Now all the boy has to do is stop sitting on his ass and propose," Hermione stated. "You've been going out for what? Nine years now?"

"Ten actually," Tracey replied. "Our anniversary was a couple weeks ago."

"And you didn't tell us?" Daphne said. "I think I might need to threaten the boy."

"He treats me well," Tracey said with a small smile. "He knows I can set him in his place if he does something to displease me. And I'm not in any hurry to get married or have children. I've had four of your children to spoil."

"And a good job you've done of that," Hermione said. "They always come back asking when they'll see Aunt Tracey again."

"Well they're Slughorn's problem now," said Tracey.

"Only Daphne's two are in Slytherin," Hermione said. "Mine are in Gryffindor remember?"

"Ah, that's too bad," Daphne said teasingly. "I always thought that Gryffindors were useless."

"Only if their last name is Weasley," Hermione deadpanned.

"Speaking of which, have you heard anything about George?" Tracey asked. "Last I heard he was married to Angelina but that was several years ago."

"And he still is," Hermione replied. "He's still running the joke shop. Since Harry gave Fred and George the money to start up their business, George sends us updates on how he's doing, along with samples of their new gags to 'try on our children when they're being naughty.'"

"Even I think that's cruel and unusual punishment," Daphne commented. "I'd much rather test it on his weasel of a brother."

"We managed to prank him a lot when he was in the Auror corps," Hermione said. The memories of many a prank on Ron Weasley brought a smile to Hermione's face.

"But now that he's working for George, it'd probably be hard to prank him," said Daphne. "He probably knows all the gags by now, even if he is an idiot."

"Since we're talking about Weasel, whatever happened to Ginny?" Tracey asked.

Mention of Ginny caused Daphne reminisce back to the wonderfully brilliant prank that Harry pulled on Ginny in their final year at Hogwarts. After Ginny passed out, Professor McGonagall had taken the girl to the hospital wing and placed her in the care of Madam Pomfrey. When she awoke, Ginny immediately ran to her dorm room to look for the letter that Harry had sent her in order to prove that Harry wanted to propose to her, but all she found were ashes where the letter should have been. The Weasley girl suffered ridicule for the remainder of her time at Hogwarts. However, when it came out that Ginny had attempted to sabotage Hermione and Daphne's relationships with Harry on more than one occasion earlier in the year, Ginny earned the scorn of many of her classmates and was the victim of pranks up until the very end.

After a rather private "celebration" of Harry's proposal to Hermione, Hermione confessed to both Harry and Daphne that she was extremely surprised that Harry would propose marriage to her. Hermione then offered Daphne the honor of being Mrs. Potter because she owed Daphne for giving her the push she needed to finally date Harry, which meant that Hermione would settle for concubine status. But Daphne replied that Hermione had been Harry's best friend since first year and stood by him when everyone else had abandoned him, which is why it was fitting that Hermione should become Mrs. Potter. Hermione could not come up with a good counter-argument so Daphne ended up as the concubine. Hermione commented to Daphne on occasion that she sometimes thought that Daphne gave up being Mrs. Potter just so that Hermione would be distracted enough so as not to end up first in their year at graduation. Daphne would always reply with a smirk.

Unknown to Harry and Hermione, Daphne actually kept her list of competitors from the contest the girls had throughout the year. In fact, it was proudly displayed in the bedroom she shared every other day with Harry. However, she made a few changes to the list. The first change was that she added Hermione's name to the list. Daphne also put a header that read "The Future Mrs. Potter." Except for her name and Hermione's, all the other girls' names were crossed off. Hannah had never been officially eliminated from the contest, but after Daphne told Hannah to burn her list on her own, Hannah's name crossed itself out. As far as Harry and Hermione knew, the list displayed was the same one that Ginny had sent to Hermione in an attempt to get her to turn on Daphne. When asked why Ginny's name was now on the list, Daphne merely stated that she thought it was fitting that Ginny Weasley's name should be added to the list and crossed out like all the others because it was a testament to the fact that Harry had chosen both her and Hermione over all the other possible candidates. Harry and Hermione were none the wiser, but Daphne was not going to let them believe otherwise. After all, why ruin a perfectly good thing? She was happy as Harry's concubine; she had a good job and was part of a good family.

"Somehow she manages to keep herself in the spotlight," Hermione told Tracey. "She's been playing as a chaser for the Holyhead Harpies since graduation and the team has been doing well."

"Yeah," Daphne agreed. "I have to admit that she's done a good job of repairing her reputation. Our classmates did not take it well when they heard she tried to sabotage our relationship."

"As long as she doesn't try to steal Harry away from us again, we'll leave her alone," Hermione said as she sipped her tea.

"Maybe I should try to steal him away from you two," Tracey said with a playful laugh.

"You'll keep your hands to yourself if you know what's good for you," Daphne said threateningly.

"My my, aren't we possessive?" Tracey teased her friend.

Daphne saw Hermione glance at her watch and gave her a questioning look.

"Harry will be home for supper soon," Hermione told her. "Shall we head home?"

"Where is Harry?" Tracey asked.

"Now that Neville's Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts, Harry's been visiting the school every time we come here," Daphne replied. "It gives him an excuse to see the children."

"He really loves them, doesn't he?"

"He does," Hermione said. "We all do. And we wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

"So who's turn is it to sleep with Harry tonight?" Daphne asked Hermione as they left Tracey's home.

"Yours," Hermione replied with some curiosity. "Why do you ask? You know that we take turns keeping our man company at night when he's not being naughty."

"Except you like it when he's naughty," Daphne said playfully. "Because the sex gets that much better."

"Hah," Hermione scoffed. "I know you're thinking the same thing."

Daphne's face flushed. "You know me too well. It's just that I was thinking that we should give Tracey another Potter kid to spoil."

Hermione cocked an eyebrow at Daphne. "Oh? I thought we were done at four. Still, I suppose Harry wouldn't mind."

"Perhaps an ambush is in order for him tonight?" Daphne said with a mischievous grin.

"I like where your head is Greengrass," Hermione said, returning Daphne's mischievous grin with one of her own. "Now where do you suggest we lie in wait?"

"The bedroom, where else? Harry will never know what hit him."

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of the story. I hope you've enjoyed it. I do apologize for the length of time in between updates for the previous chapters, but hopefully this one makes up for it. It took me a while to come up with devious schemes for some of the chapters since I was trying to do stuff that had never been used before. I didn't have Harry marry both of them because I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. For those of you who are wondering, neither Harry nor Hermione ever found out about the contest. While writing this Epilogue I thought of a rather unique Harry/Hermione/Ginny plot that'll just be a one-shot. Once again, any feedback would be appreciated.


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